It's the Olympics, IOC, not Mount Olympus

Aside from the very high costs of hosting the Olympics (venue construction, etc.), all for dubious economic benefit, the International Olympic Committee seems determined to turn off applicants by including host city requirements for the IOC that rival a Rolling Stones contract:

– Cars and drivers for IOC members, with special dedicated highway lanes
– Street lights synchronized to prioritize IOC traffic
– Separate airport entrance for IOC members
– Hotel mini-bars must have only Coca-Cola products
– Samsung phones for all IOC members
– All meeting rooms must be kept at exactly 68 degrees.
– All furniture must have "Olympic appearance."
– "IOC members will be received with a smile on arrival at hotel"

Nothing about only Blue, Yellow, Black, Green, and Red M&Ms, but I'm sure that was in there somewhere.

So, not surprisingly, Oslo — one of the three finalists (and, in fact, only cities whose bids were left standing) for the 2022 Winter Olympics has dropped out. That leaves just Beijing, China and Almaty, Khazakstan left. Apparently they're both used to autocratic treatment.

Nobody Wants To Host The 2022 Olympics
The next Olympics to be awarded, a little more than a year from now, will be the 2022 Winter Games. Rather than going to the strongest bid, the games may end up going to the last city standing–a long list of potential hosts have given up on their Olympic dreams because the whole thing is one huge, useless waste of money.

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