Who's going to win the 2012 Olympics and why?
 

Unfortunately I think Paris will win as they've bid twice before and it will be unpolitic to turn them down again

I doubt it will be NYC. To much anti american sentiment.

Let's hope it's Paris.

First because the corruption-rid IOC and Paris were made for each other.

Second because if Paris wins Chirac will behave in a less curmudgeonly way than his norm at this weeks's G8 meeting (if London wins, expect him to be even worse than ever)

Third because it means London won't be lumbered with this insane waste of money.

Oh, I don't know..sounds similar to some of the "when will airline prices go down" or ""will the Euro get lower" questions and probably just as many half-baked "theories" supposedly designed to answer the question, too.

londonengland : presumably your "unfortunately" means you'd like London to get it ? Why ? If I were still living there I wouldn't want it - the place is too crowded as it is. (Plus I hate sport :-) )

Adoption - the fact that NYC does not yet have any realistic prospect of a stadium, and that the US has had the games 4 times in the last 25 years may have more to do with things than any anti-americanism.

Seems like it's a tossup between London and Paris. My husband and I were discussing it last night and realized the chances were about 90% that we'd be living in one of those two cities in 2012. We've never lived in a city while it was hosting the Olympics, so it will be an interesting experience.

willit,
Good points! Some of the NYC papers (I think the Daily News)were saying anti american (actual anti Bush)sentiment. I would prefer not to pay for the games.

i´m rooting for madrid. will be interesting to see if any of this country bashing between french/british has any consequences.

I'm with lincasanova :) The french-british issue maybe will have consequences.

Well, since Chirac was forced to eat haggis, perhaps he will serve andouillettes to the next official visit to France by the Brits and/or Scots.
(Some Fodorites love andouillettes, no doubt. We find them hideous. My husband, in a flight of culinary curiousity a few years ago, ordered AAA andouillettes at Le Maupertu in the 7th. While we were waiting for our main courses, he kept saying, WHAT is that god-awful smell??!!" When the waiter brought over his steaming plate of andouillettes, he got his answer.)

Andouillettes:

Now there you have the essence of the French-British thing.

THEY get all maiden aunt-like at the thought of eating offal. Or at any rate, offal not produced in the world's most insular and self-satisfied cultural ghetto. Heaven forfend Chirac - as big a culinary woos, apparently as Dubbya, who's also terrified haggis might bite - should actually taste the stuff before deciding he dislikes it.

We, OTOH, just get on and wolf their offal down.

Before the spelling police jump all over you, may I gently point out the correct spelling is *wuss* (or *mauviette* in French [loosely translated]).

Well - who won?

I lived in Sydney during the Olympics (and still do). It was the most amazing atmosphere - traffic was a dream, and the public transport worked unbelievably well.

If it wasn't for the expense - we'd put them on every time here - it was just a brilliant place to live (mind you - it's not too bad, even without the Olympics)

There's no correct spelling of woos/wuss/whatever.

It hasn't yet made into my copy of the OED. And since - unlike the French and Germans, who let public servants tell them how to speak their language - English is determined by usage, and only the OED is equipped to determine what usage actually is, you and I are entitled to spell it any damn way we choose.

None of which, of course, undermines the basic truth that, however woos might be written, it's a perfect descriptor of Chirac and Dubbya.

Well, MY Oxford English Dictionary (published by Oxford University Press*) says:
wuss (rhymes with puss) n. N. American informal: a feeble person. ORIGIN UNKNOWN.

no alternate spelling provided.

*"Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship and education by publishing worldwide..."

It appears that it's either going to be London or Paris. I guess I would prefer London over Paris, because I think Paris is already a more beautiful city and hopefully if London wins it will beautify.

In answer to Caroline's point - I'd love the Olympics to come to London. I think it will regenerate the East End and just be a great experience but not building up my hopes too much

Paris is my guess.
We'll know in 3 hours.

I'm crossing everything I've got for London. Momentum is with us!