Qatar has announced that they are going to launch a bid to host the Olympic Games 2016 !

iT's great news actually, sure it wont be an easy job, but anouncing it, nad launching the official bid later on next year is a great move by Qatar.

With all the steps taken and having all these sports establishments , hosting different strong sport events, bringing the best experts from all over the world, i can say that Qatar is on the right way , and even if they dont get it " 2016" But they will show the world what they can do.

The 15th Asian games in Qatar in December will be great chance to show their hosting capabilities, not to mention that Qatar got the largest indoor sports dome in the world !

So, what are the chances of Qatar to win this , knowing that they might be competing with countries/cities like :

Madrid ,Rotetrdam , Rome , Rio de Janiero , Portugal , India , Montereal , Hamburg , Berlin, Denmark and Dubai ! the list gets longer as the official timeframe for bids is Jan -July 2007 !

WoohoO! I wish Qatar wins! That would be so cool. All of you can stay in my place if we do :)

^^ You live in doha?

I am excited! even though they're killing us here in Doha lol, but I wish them the best!

Fantastic move from Qatar, but i guess this all depends on how well they can organize the Asian Games this year.

I hope everything goes fine.

I heard that they r having some probs with the beds for the asiad , not enough beds for athletes!

^^ dont think so....the only thing they did well was providing houses and stuff lol, but the streets suck!

^^ dont think so....the only thing they did well was providing houses and stuff lol, but the streets suck!

DOHA (Qatar), Nov 2 (Bernama) -- The organisers have hired three cruise ships with 2,500 beds to be moored along the Doha coast to provide additional accommodation during the Doha Asian Games on Dec 1-15.

The local English language daily, Gulf Times, quoted the Doha Games Organising Committee director-general, Abdulla Khalid Al-Qahtani, as saying this at the inauguration of the 15th Asian Games Temporary Terminal at the Doha International Airport on Wednesday.

Issues pertaining to athletes' and visitors' accommodation had been taken care of, he said.

The 8,800 square metre Temporary Terminal, which looks like a block of seven Arabian tents joined side-by-side, is separate from the Doha International Airport's arrival and departure terminals.

It is expected to handle about 30,000 passengers, including VIPs and athletes, and is capable of handling a flow of 2,300 arriving and departing passengers per hour.

"The existing Doha International Airport terminals will continue to serve passengers arriving on all international flights, while the Temporary Terminal will be used exclusively for all accredited athletes, officials, media and guests," Al-Qahtani told the senior officials of both the organising committee and Qatar's Civil Aviation Authority at the function.

The Temporary Terminal will offer fast track arrival and departure processing for VIPs and dedicated facilities for handling sports gear brought in by the competitors.

-- BERNAMA


Bed shortage bedeviling Asian Games in Qatar



The shortage of accommodation will be so severe at December's Asian Games in Qatar that the Japanese delegation is considering bringing in air beds to share rooms.

The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) said Thursday it had filed a protest to the organizers of the December 1-15 Asian Games.

"We are asking the Japanese embassy and local Japanese companies to help find us accommodation," JOC president Tsunekazu Takeda said.

"Some of us must be prepared to sleep in the living rooms of apartments at the athletes' village," he told a meeting of the JOC executive board, which was open to the press.

The Doha Asian Games organizing committee has informed the JOC that they will be able to provide only 693 beds for the 811-strong Japanese delegation including 628 athletes, he said.

The capital of the energy-rich Gulf state is buzzing with massive construction, but it is unlikely to be enough for the Asian Games, the world's biggest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics, he said.

"I can't imagine that they will be able to fill in the gap of more than 100 beds in time," he said adding that the accommodation problem will also hit hard big delegations from regional sports superpowers China and South Korea.

"Top-rate hotels in Doha have been booked up by the organizing committee. Hotels for foreign workers will not be adequate for our athletes. There are a limited number of hotels for our emergency use," Takeda said.

Japan protested against the improper organization, said Tomiaki Fukuda, deputy chief of the delegation.

"We will have to bring along air beds for athletes, coaches and officials. We can rent blankets and pillows over there," he said. "But, under any circumstances, our athletes must give it their all."

The Gulf Times, an English-language daily in Doha, reported recently that the number of participants from the region's 45 countries and territories had topped 13,500 although the 500 million-dollar athletes' village was built for 10,000.

Fukuda, the head of the Japanese Wrestling Federation, said Japanese wrestlers and judokas were seeking to hire an apartment tower somewhere as their competition dates will not clash.

The number of Japanese athletes to compete in Doha is 30 fewer than those who took part in the 2002 Asian Games in the South Korean port city of Busan.

Japan will aim to regain its traditional place in the regional sporting hierarchy in Qatar. They were dethroned by China at the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games and overtaken by South Korea in 1986.

In Busan, China topped the gold medal tally at 150, followed by South Korea at 96, with Japan a far third at 44.

TOKYO, Thursday, AFP

They were too busy building stadiums instead of hotels :bored:

This would be really hard, good luck!