It’s time for the Olympics!
The Olympic Games are considered to be the world’s foremost sports competition.[2] These modern games are the leading international sporting events (featuring summer and winter sports competitions) in which thousands of athletes from around the world – more than 200 nations – participate in the variety of athletic feats.
The Caribbean is duly represented, with a variety of athletes competing for their ancestral home countries – see photos in the Appendix below – and even some competing for adopted residential countries. This brings to mind a question of whether the Caribbean can someday, maybe, quite possibly consider the wild dream of hosting the games in one of its member-states. This proposition has been debated and dismissed; see this previous blog-commentary from March 12, 2014 regarding this laughable assertion. Ha ha ha …
This commentary is encored here today, August 5, 2016, on the occasion of the opening day of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. See VIDEO here showcasing media coverage in the Caribbean member-state of the Cayman Islands:
VIDEO – Olympics 2016 in Rio, Brazil – Flow brings Caribbean coverage – https://youtu.be/5LP9mje0bHo
Retrieved August 5, 2016 – Get ready for the action in Rio with Flow, Official broadcast partner of the 2016 Olympic Games for the Caribbean.
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Go Lean Commentary
Freedom of speech is great for the flow of information in a democracy. But freedom of speech has its limits, notwithstanding libel, slander and defamation possibilities. If a person yells out “FIRE, FIRE” in a crowded theater, knowing that there is no fire, the resultant panic and crush of people fleeing for the exits is actually criminally liable. In some jurisdiction, if death results, the culprit can be charged with statues against “depraved indifference”. Wow, that could be serious!
On the other hand, there is the practice of dreaming and acting on dreams. Some of the biggest accomplishments in world history, started as someone’s dreams. Once actuated, one step after another led to the eventual fulfillment of the dream. Once actuated, one step after another led to the eventual fulfillment of the dream. See this article here from Caribbean Journal Online News Site; retrieved 02/12/2014 from http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/02/13/caribbean-idea-could-the-caribbean-host-the-olympic-games/:
While the Caribbean has become relatively accustomed to dominating at the Summer Olympics, this year’s crop of Caribbean winter athletes has us thinking. With all of the Caribbean’s continued success in international athletics, why couldn’t the region (or one of the countries in the region host the Summer Olympics?
The Olympics has been held in the US, Asia, Australia, Europe and (soon) South America, but never in the Caribbean. So we looked around the region to think about which countries could, at least hypothetically host the Games. The Games must be based in a single city; given much of the region’s size, the Games would likely need to be held across an entire island, though perhaps nominally based in a city.
A potential Caribbean host country would also need several major qualities: a large enough territory to host the myriad events held in the Summer Games; a high enough level of infrastructural development; a big enough airport and a hotel stock large enough that it could expand without too much difficulty to meet the needs of the Games. We isolated several Caribbean islands: Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico.
Jamaica is large enough and its hotel stock is big enough, but its infrastructural development would need work; given Jamaica’s brand equity around the world (and its athletic dominance), this could be a natural choice, with Montego Bay being the best fit for a single city given its topography. Hispaniola would be the most provocative choice: could two neighbors that often have a stormy relationship bridge their divides and come together for international sport? Lack of infrastructure, particularly on the Haitian side, would be an issue, but adding that infrastructure would also enormously benefit the western half of the island.
Could the Games be held in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo together? Trinidad and Tobago has the infrastructural development, the territorial size, and the airport, but a small hotel stock. Could Port of Spain host the Games with many events held in Tobago? A system of fast ferries and increased flights would make for an entertaining twin-island Olympics.
Guadeloupe would be a bit of a wild card; its roads and infrastructural development far outpace much of the region; it has enough undeveloped land and a relatively large size. Could the Games spread across each of the islands of the archipelago? Puerto Rico is large, with developed infrastructure, and it’s part of the United States, with a relatively robust hotel stock and strong existing sports infrastructure. Of course, its debt problems would pose a significant hindrance to hosting the Games in the next few decades.
Cuba is another option, although the continued embargo from the United States would likely be a significant stumbling block. Otherwise, the island has the size, infrastructure and level of development to be considered. There’s another option — what about a regionally-hosted Olympics? Would the IOC ever support something like that? Would the Caribbean grant temporary approval for foreign airlines to operate regional service? Would a fast-ferry company seize on the opportunity?
If the region could source the majority of the funding from sponsorship’s and other external sources, the benefits of new hotels, infrastructure, investment and prestige could be significant. But the Caribbean would need to ensure that the foreign money was enough that it didn’t put it any further into already-crippling debt. Ultimately, the question is this: instead of spending billions on developed countries hosting the Games, why not spend the same money for an Olympic Games that actually leads to development?
Imagine a Trinidad or a Jamaica or a Hispaniola with fresh, modern hotels, large stadia and, crucially, sparkling new roads (not to mention the vast tourism marketing potential of hosting the Games). Of course, there’s another major issue: the weather. Summer in the Caribbean means the risk of hurricanes. But with major storms popping up across the globe, is the Caribbean really alone in that risk anymore? And couldn’t Olympic development be done at a hurricane-proof standard?
What do you think? Could the Caribbean ever host an Olympic Games?
The Caribbean hosting the Olympics is just dreaming, not reporting. Most men and women standing on the podium receiving their winning medals can trace their origins back to some dream. A dream for the athlete, coach and/or parent. Sometimes, too the whole community is dreaming. Is the thought of the Caribbean hosting the Olympics some day just a dream now in 2014 or can the “dominoes” be put in place that once actuated can lead to an eventual successful bid to host some future Olympiad?
Tipping the “dominoes” to enable a better business environment is the mission of the book Go Lean … Caribbean; [it serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU)]. This even applies to sports. The books purports that sports can be a great economic driver for the region, and that the business model of the Olympics can be forged in the region on a minor scale. In fact the book proposes the CU Games as a bi-annual event that encompasses many Olympic-style events, more than just Track & Field. This approach would bring the necessary regional integration necessary to develop any long time plans for a big dream of the Olympics.
This commentary declares that the merits of the foregoing article is pure rubbish. No one Caribbean country possesses the population base and economic engine to make an Olympic bid viable. While comparisons can be made for Greece, the host country for the 2004 Summer Olympics, this example is a better argument for opposition of any Olympic hosting. Greece experienced much financial distress as a result of their Olympic hosting; the country was near insolvency during the European Sovereign Debt crisis of 2009 – 2012, if not for the bail-outs of the European Union.
To the contrary, the entire Caribbean region tallies 42 million people and the results of economic integration can yield a GDP of $800 Billion (2010). Greece on the other hand had a population count of 10.8 million and GDP of $250 for the same period.
Lastly, the Go Lean roadmap calls for the emergence of the Caribbean dollar unified currency. This structure would spur the elevation of the region’s capital markets for stocks and bonds. This approach would satisfy the liquidity needs to finance the construction of any and all sporting facilities required for sporting events.
Download the e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – free … now!
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Appendix – Caribbean Olympic Hopefuls …
… for example, this sample from Jamaica, Grenada, the Bahamas and Trinidad.
