The 2020 Olympic Finalist Cities

With the 2016 Summer Olympics set to take place in Brazil, the world is about to find out thirty days from now which mayor of what international city will be handed the Antwerp Olympic flag during the closing ceremonies of the Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 21, 2016.. 

The International Olympic Committee will hold its 125th Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 7.   One of the items on the agenda in addition to electing the new president of the IOC will be to decide which of three candidate cities will get to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.   

The three finalist cities vying to snag the bid are Tokyo, Madrid, and Istanbul.  They delivered their final presentations to the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland on July 3-4 and will get one final chance to sway the delegates their way at that September 7 meeting in Argentina.

The three host committees along with their national leaders will be nervously watching on that date as the assembled IOC delegates vote to see which candidate city gets an absolute majority of votes and will be signing the coveted 'Host City Contract'  to organize and stage the Games. 

The frontrunner to host the 2020 Games is considered to be Tokyo.  

This is Tokyo's fifth Olympic bid overall and its second consecutive one after being eliminated in the second round of bidding for the 2012 Games.  If this one is successful it would become the fourth city to host the Summer Olympic Games twice. 

Tokyo won the right to host the 1940 Summer Games that were cancelled by World War II.  It bid for the 1960 Games but was eliminated on the first ballot but successfully won the right to host the 1964 Olympic Games, becoming the first Asian city to do so.

The 1972 and 1998 Winter Games were hosted in Sapporo and Nagano in addition to those 1964 Summer Games, so Japan has been there done that when it comes to Olympic hosting experience.   It also hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the 2006 FIBA men's World Basketball Championships, the 2011 Gymnastics World Championships and the 2019 Rugby World Cup. 

Tokyo also scored highly on the IOC Evaluation Committee reviews and there is enough of a time separation since the Asian-Pacific region last hosted a summer games  (Beijing 2008) to make it a front running candidate along with sentiment in the wake of the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami to bring the Games there.  It is also regarded as a safe and secure city in comparison to its finalist rivals.

The fact the $4.8 billion budgeted for the Games is sitting in the bank along with a compact Olympic venue plan in which the competition venues are within 8km of the Olympic village with the exception of the football prelims are other pluses in their favor.

Soft public support for the Tokyo bid is one negative that people are throwing at it although that support has continued to rise since the London Games concluded.   73% of Tokyo residents and 86% of Japan now support the bid and it has the backing of Tokyo's mayor and the Japanese government.

Controversy erupted when Tokyo 2020 Chairman Naoki Inose made a shady comment interpreted to be about Istanbul's bid when he was quoted as saying, “Well, compare the two countries where they have yet to build infrastructure, very sophisticated facilities. So from time to time, like Brazil, I think it’s good to have a venue for the first time. But Islamic countries, the only thing they share in common is Allah and they are fighting with each other and they have classes.”

Criticizing another candidate city's bid is against IOC rules and Tokyo 2020 quickly went into damage control mode.  In addition to Tokyo 2020's statement reiterating they "have the utmost respect for all candidate cities and have always taken pride in bidding in a spirit based on the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship,” Inose apologized for the comment a few days later.   

How much that comment will affect the IOC votes Tokyo gets in Buenos Aires has yet to be determined since as Chicago painfully found out, ranking very highly on the site evaluations and being considered the frontrunner doesn't necessarily guarantee you'll get the Games, especially in a body as political as the IOC.  

Madrid is attempting its third consecutive bid (and fourth overall) to host the Games.   It lost to Munich in the final round of voting to host the 1972 Games, was knocked out of the third round of voting for the 2012 Games that London eventually beat out Paris for in the final round and lost to Rio de Janeiro in the final round of voting for the 2016 Games.

So Madrid feels it's due.  Madrid like Tokyo also has a compact venue plan with the exception being the sailing events held in Seville and football prelims would be held in various Spanish cities. The bid has national (84%) and citywide (75%) support.   Barcelona hosted the 1992 Games, and Spain will host the upcoming 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball with Madrid being one of the host venue cities.   Madrid's Mayor Ana Botella and the Spanish government also support bringing the games here.     

The negatives affecting the bid is Madrid will have to build six new venues and two temporary ones out of the 36 needed.  They will have to upgrade other ones in the midst of a Spanish economic crisis. 

Since London already hosted the 2012 Games, the IOC usually likes some time separation before it returns to a continent..  Only eight years will have elapsed between the time of the 2012 Games and the 2020 ones, but people supporting Madrid's Olympic bid can point out there was only eight years separation between the 1976 Montreal Games and the 1984 LA ones on the North American continent. 

Istanbul is the third candidate city finalist.   It has yet to host a Games but has made four previous bids.  It was one of five candidate cities vying for the 2000 Games but was eliminated in the first round of voting.   It failed to become a candidate city for the 2004 and 2012 Games, and finished fourth in both rounds of balloting for the 2008 Games that were held in Beijing.

Istanbul's bid is proposing to host the Games from Friday, August 7 to Sunday, August 23, 2020.  It is playing up the fact the city is on the Asian and European continents, is new Olympic territory and if selected would be the first time the Games would be hosted in a predominately Muslim nation. 

It was voted the number one city in Europe by the international travel magazine Travel & Leisure for its 2013 'World's Best Awards', and recently completed the Marmaray Rail Tunnel underneath the Bosporus strait that will open in October as part of a major expansion of Istanbul Metro's rail system.    

It does have high level international sport hosting experience.  Istanbul hosted the knockout phase and the final of the 2010 FIBA men's World Basketball Championships with Turkey set to play host next year to the FIBA women's World Basketball Championships.   It has also hosted the 2001 EuroBasket final and the 1992and 2012 Euroleague finals in addition to having a bid in for the 2002 Euro 2020 football tournament.

The Istanbul bid also have the support of the Turkish governement and the city of Istanbul. 

But the protest in Taksim Square that beamed photos around the world of Turkish police violently beating down peaceful protestors, anti-trans violence, getting called out by IAAF president Lamine Diack about doping issues and a negative IOC Evaluation Committee report have started to impact the momentum that was building toward Istanbul winning the 2020 Games bid. 

All three candidate cities cities have bids with strengths and weaknesses and we really won't know until September 7 which city wins the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

Latest Turkish Trans Murder Fueling Protests

Next to Brazil, the most dangerous place to be a trans person is in Turkey.  

It has the deleterious combination of rampant transphobia, no hate crimes or anti-trans discrimination laws on their national legal books to combat it and police in some cases indifferent to bringing the perpetrators of these killings to justice. .  

According to Transgender Europe, between January 2008 and December 2012 there were 30 murders of Turkish trans persons.  It pales in comparison to the trans bloodletting going on in Brazil but one murdered transperson is one too damned many.   

But despite being number two in terms of those reprehensible rankings, the Turkish government persists in its obstinate refusal to pass those obviously needed laws.

But with the murder of 24 year old Dora Özer, our Turkish transsisters may have finally hit their sick and tired of being sick and tired of this jacked up situation tipping point.

Özer was found brutally stabbed to death by her roommate in the apartment they shared in the town of Kudadasi.

In the wake of her senseless murder, the Turkish trans community launched a wave of coordinated protests across the nation yesterday in the cities of Adana, Ankara, Diyarbakir, Eskişehir, İstanbul and İzmir.  There was also a protest in the German capital of Berlin where there is a sizable Turkish expat community. 

During the marches our Turkish trans cousins and allies condemned the rampant transphobia in their nation that fuels the violent anti-trans hatred aimed at them, protested government inaction on the issue and demanded justice for Dora.  

Here's hoping the march was successful and it accomplishes all of its goals, including getting justice for Dora.

2012 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tourney In Quarterfinals

The 2012 FIBA Women's World Olympic Qualifying Tournament tipped off in Ankara, Turkey June 25 with our FIBA number 11 ranked Canadian neighbors being amongst the femme roundball teams trying to dribble their way into the London Olympic basketball tournament that starts a few weeks from now

Out of the 12 nations that started their quest for the five remaining spots to go to London only eight remain after they survived group play.  The host nation Turkey won Group A and will play Group B runner up and FIBA number 12 ranked Argentina. Group B winner and FIBA number 4 ranked Czech Republic will play Group A runner up and FIBA number 15 ranked Japan.  

Canada was in Group D with FIBA number 8 ranked France and Mali and got their tournament off to a rousing start June 25 by crushing Mali 89-23.  

The next day against France they brought their bricklayers union cards and got off to a slow start that resulted in a 57-46 loss and a 1-1 record in Group D play.  

Despite the loss they were still in great shape to qualify for the quarterfinals because of the blowout win over FIBA number 19 ranked Mali.   The only way they would be knocked out of the tournament is if Mali upset France and beat them by a 65 point margin in doing so. 

Umm no. France routed Mali 88-37 on June 27 to win the group with Canada finishing as the runner up.  France will play Group C runner up and FIBA number 9 ranked Korea for one of the Olympic spots.

The Canadians will play Croatia, the group C winner that has jumped 23 spots in the FIBA rankings to number 31 with a spot in the Olympics going to the winner and the loser moving on to play June 30 the loser of the Turkey-Argentina game.   The losers in the Czech Republic-Japan and France-Korea games would also battle it out on June 30 in the semis.

The winners of the June 30 semifinals would play July 1 for the final Olympic berth.  

I would think the Canadian women's b-ballers would rather handle their business today and be celebrating on Canada Day a trip to London rather than playing a nerve racking two additional must win games tomorrow and on Canada Day to get the final Olympic berth.

The Transwoman Behind Turkey's FIBA Tournament Success

Turkey had an 8-1 run to the September 12 title game in the recently concluded 2010 FIBA World Championships before they fell to Team USA.

But one story that emerged in the wake of the FIBA silver medalists 81-64 loss highlights something that I have said repeatedly in different ways on this blog.

No matter where we live on Planet Earth, if you give a transperson a shot at doing what they love and leave them alone to live their lives, it not only pays dividends for the transperson, but also the societies in which we live.

Meet Leyla Çalışkan, a talent scout for Turkish basketball. She discovered and trained Turkish NBA baller Hedo Turkoglu and several players on the Turkish national squad that made their nation proud and became known as the '12 Giant Men'.

Leyla was working at a local college pre-transition when she discovered Turkoglu and Kerem Tunçeri. Çalışkan’s “special situation” as she calls it was noticed at Çavuşoğlu College where she worked at the time and she was fired from her job.

“I had not had the [sex-change] surgery yet [when they fired me], but I guess people were understanding [my situation],” she said in an interview published in the Turkish English language newspaper Hurriyet.

Çalışkan said she went through a very difficult and lonely period after she was fired and then decided to have the SRS she'd been postponing in order to keep her job. “However, I have never regretted having the surgery; I found my identity,” she said.

Her story does have a positive end despite the fact her prized pupils don't communicate with her. She is still doing the work she loves in terms of discovering new Turkish basketball talents and working as a coach.

Team USA 2010 FIBA B-Ball Finalists In New York

The 2008 Olympic champion Team USA men ballers start FIBA World Basketball Championships Group B play on August 28 against Croatia.

This weekend in New York Team USA Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff will have to determine which three guys will not be going to Turkey out of the 15 finalists for the squad. The 12 man rosters for the two week FIBA tournament must be finalized by August 24.

For you LeBron haters, he, D-Wade and Chris Bosh aren't on the list. Neither is Kobe Bryant for you folks who love hatin' on him.

Before y'all get too happy, they are STILL on the 27 man USA 2010-2012 national squad.

Note to the rest of the FIBA basketball planet, don't get too happy because our 'A' team isn't going to be in Turkey. Some of the finalists on this squad are Rajon Rondo, Chauncey Billups, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Tyson Chandler, Lamar Odom and Andre Igoudala just to name a few.

They'll be just as determined to not only win gold in this FIBA world championship for the first time since 1994, but get that automatic qualifying spot for the 2012 Olympic B-ball tournament that goes with it.

As part of a World Basketball Festival that started yesterday at Radio City Music Hall with an intersquad scrimmage on the Radio City stage, Team USA will be taking on a French National Team at Madison Square Garden August 15 that doesn't include Tony Parker or Joakim Noah.

Noah is on the 24 man French roster and has made it clear while he won't be playing in the FIBA Championships, he will play for France in the future. The Puerto Rica squad will be taking on China in the other game.

But back to Team USA and Coach K and his coaching staff's dilemma. It will be interesting to see who makes this team, then watch them take on the world in Turkey in two weeks.

Turkish Transwoman Running For Public Office

Ever since New Zealand's Georgina Beyer became the first transwoman to be elected to a national legislative body in 1999, we've had an increasing number of transgender people all over the world seeking elective office on various levels of government.

Transwoman Belgin Celik is seeking to make history in Turkey. She is running as a candidate in upcoming March 29 local elections in a district that has never had a female district representative candidate, much less ever had a woman serve in the position.

"As a transsexual woman, I believe I will be able to secularly fulfill my duties. I plan to determine the problems present and solve them with the public. There are two men also up for this position, but I believe I am going to win."

Celik is a human rights activist who has worked for the UN Refugee High Committee and International Amnesty and is one of the founders of the homosexual initiative, Lambda in Istanbul. She's running in the neighborhood where she's lived for 30 years. "I know everyone here and have acquaintances and friendships with everyone."

While some people are projecting her election as a sure thing, as anyone who has ever run for public office can tell you, there are no sure things in politics.

Hopefully on March 29 Celik will add her name to the list of transgender people who are elected officials.

Bulent Ersoy Acquitted

I mentioned that beloved transwoman singer Bulent Ersoy was on trial for remarks she made on a TV program critical of the Turkish military.

In Turkey, military service is obligatory for men over the age of 20, and it is a crime to speak against it.

She stated on that fateful February 24 TV broadcast that if she had a son, she would not let him fight in other people’s wars, referring to the increasing number of soldiers killed fighting outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists.

Thanks to her lawyer, Muhittin Yüzüak, she was acquitted on December 18.

The court ruled that Ersoy be acquitted of charges of trying to turn the public against obligatory military service. The court pointed to freedom of speech as the rationale for the ruling and Presiding Judge Ülker Kirazcı ruled that Ersoy’s remarks were personal thoughts she'd expressed in line with her right to freedom of speech and thought.

She was facing a jail term ranging from nine months to nearly three years had she been convicted of the charges.

Turkish Transsexuals Take To The Stage To Defend Their Rights

TransGrior Note: I'll say it again, transgender peeps fighting for their rights, dignity and respect is a worldwide struggle.

Turkey: transsexuals take to the stage to defend their rights

From Agency France Presse
Jan 20, 2008

ANKARA (AFP) — A unique play in an Ankara theatre ended with a standing ovation this week as the little-known actors -- transsexuals and gays raising their voice against discrimination -- fought back their tears on stage.

Their play, "Pink And Grey," put the spotlight on the plight of transsexuals in mainly Muslim Turkey, in the latest initiative of a fledgling but increasingly vocal movement for rights by a community long ostracized and often harassed.

Beaming with pride and excitement, the amateur stars, male-to-female transsexuals Derya Tunc and Sera Can, received congratulations in the boisterous backstage, taking a welcome respite from their actual jobs as sex workers.

"Despite all the discrimination we face, I have no regrets for what I am," Can cheerfully told AFP. "My only regret is having ended up in the prostitution sector."

Almost all transsexuals and transvestites in Turkey make their living as prostitutes. They say they have no other option in a society where homophobia is strong and often accompanied by violence.

Three quarters of Turks say they are "disturbed" by homosexuals, a recent opinion survey showed, although many gays today are recognized as being among the country's most prominent singers and fashion designers.

Notoriously harsh against transsexual prostitutes, police have been accused of arbitrary round-ups, mistreatment, torture and rough "clean-up" operations in several Istanbul neighbourhoods popular with transsexuals.

Activists say police abuse declined in recent years as the homosexual and transgender movement became organised and Turkey's bid to join the European Union made human rights a priority issue.

"Before, the police used violence -- now they only fine us," said Buse Kilickaya, the head of Pembe Hayat, or Pink Life, a newly-founded association that advocates transgender rights and sponsored "Pink and Grey."

She pointed to the ongoing trial of four people over an assault on transvestite and transsexual prostitutes in Ankara's Eryaman suburb in 2006, which left several seriously injured.

The victims were attacked by young men wielding sticks and knives who were allegedly encouraged by local authorities and property developers; their flats were ransacked and they were eventually forced to flee the neighbourhood.

Attorney Senem Doganoglu, a supporter of Pink Life, said transvestites and transsexuals continue to be arbitrarily detained and could end up in a police station simply for showing up in the street.

"I had a case in which one was detained when she went out in the evening to buy bread," Doganoglu said.

Prostitution is not a crime in Turkey, so the police use a law that provides for fines for disturbing public order to pursue transsexual sex workers, she explained.

That the advocacy of conservative values by the governing Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) "is fostering the existing climate of intolerance," she said.

Islam's impact on sexual freedoms, however, has proven to be a tricky issue in secular Turkey, where same-sex relationships and sex change operations are allowed, unlike in many other Muslim countries, and homosexual traditions can be traced back to the palaces of Ottoman sultans.

One of Turkey's best-known gays, prominent fashion designer Cemil Ipekci, made the headlines this month as he praised the AKP, described himself as a "conservative homosexual" and said he would have worn the Islamic headscarf had he been a woman.

And a transgender association in Ankara has called for a special mosque where its members can pray without disturbing the conventional Muslim flock.

"They cannot deny us the right to pray for salvation, can they?" asked group leader Oksan Oztok.

Activists hope discrimination will decrease as they become better organised and more vocal.

"We know things cannot change overnight. But there is progress already and we will continue to fight," Kilickaya said as she and her fellows excitedly discussed the date of the next "Pink and Grey" performance.

Bulent Ersoy Trial In Turkey

From The Associated Press
September 24, 2008

A transsexual singer charged with illegally criticizing mandatory military service in Turkey said in court Wednesday she would say the same thing again.

Singer Bulent Ersoy has acknowledged saying on television that if she had children she would not want them to join the army to battle Kurdish rebels who are fighting for self-rule.

"I spoke in the name of humanity. Even if I were to face execution, I would say the same thing," the state-run Anatolia news agency quoted Ersoy as telling the court in Istanbul.

In Turkey, defendants are not expected to enter a plea before a panel of judges hears testimony at a trial and returns a verdict.

Ersoy questioned the fairness of a law making it a crime to criticize Turkey's mandatory 15-month military service for all men over 20. If found guilty, she could face two years in prison.

Ersoy, 56, who sings traditional Turkish music and dresses in flamboyant gowns, served in the military before her 1981 sex-change operation, her lawyer Muhittin Yuzuak told the court Wednesday.

A small group of pro-Kurdish protesters demonstrated outside the court house in support of the singer, holding a banner that read in Kurdish "Long live Diva."

The European Union, which Turkey wants to join, is pressing the nation to do away with laws that stifle free expression.

Under EU pressure, Turkey amended a law in April that barred the denigration of Turkish identity and institutions. The law had been used to prosecute Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and other intellectuals. But human rights groups said the changes did not go far enough.

Ersoy is one of Turkey's best-loved singers. In February, she made the comment about Turkey's military service while appearing on the jury of a Turkish version of "Pop Idol."

At the time, Turkey had thousands of troops in northern Iraq pursuing rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, who maintain bases there.

In the indictment, prosecutor Ali Cakir accused the singer of "alienating the public toward military service" and affecting the morale of the soldiers and their families. He asked that she be sentenced to between nine and 30 months in prison.

The trial was adjourned until Oct. 30.