Preparing for the Olympics

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Preparing for the Olympics

Every two years, countries around the world join together in excitement for the Olympic Games. Either winter or summer, the Olympics are something everyone seems to look forward to in one way or another. Olympic preparation is no easy task, for the athletes, nor for the event staff. When the idea of Olympic preparation is brought up, two main ideas come to mind. How is the site for the Olympics picked? And how is it decided who carries the Olympic torch?

After careful research, the answers to these questions have been found. First, the topic of how an “Olympic City” comes to be. All cities applying to become candidate cities to host the Olympic Games are subject to a candidature acceptance procedure, conducted by the IOC Executive Board. IOC stands for International Olympic Committee. In the end the IOC Executive Board will determine which cities are accepted as candidate cities. There are several criteria that a host city must meet in order to be considered a candidate for the job. Two of these are: ability to host, organize and stage high level international multi-sports events and compliance with the Olympic Charter and the IOC Code of Ethics. Once the candidates are chosen based on more general elements, the process of choosing an Olympic host can begin. There are usually five cities chosen as possible candidates for the prestige honor of hosting the Olympic Games. From here each city must fill out a lengthy questionnaire about their plans for the Olympic Games. The main topics on the questionnaire concern Motivation and Support, Political and Public Support, General Infrastructure, Sports Infrastructure, Logistics and Experience, and the Financing of the games. After this long and in depth form, the IOC has a better knowledge of each city’s plans for all the events and coordination for the Games. After the questionnaire is received the IOC can send experts to the city to further investigate certain matters pertaining to the questions answered. This is usually done to ensure that the correct choice is made to further the “Olympic Movement.” Each of the five candidate cities receives a visit by not only the experts, but by the IOC to discuss matters more in depth to get a better feel for the city and it’s ideas for the Games.

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