Dismay as Games go to Beijing
By Ron Goodman
THE shell-shocked organisers of Tingalpa's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games hope the suburb's Olympic dream can rise from the ashes.
TINCOG president Tom Carroll said for a "brief moment" he thought the outgoing International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch had merely mispronounced Tingalpa.
"We were obviously chocked and dismayed to find out it was actually Beijing," Mr Carroll said.
"It's a real slap in the face. It's difficult to go from full throttle to nothing. One minute we were designing costumes for the opening ceremony and the next there's just no point."
Mr Carroll conceded that rival bids spent a lot more money that TINCOG but he pointed out that Tingalpa fell only 56 votes short in the final round of voting. Beijing received 56 votes.
"Tingalpa spent less than $15, mainly on paint and cheap cardboard," Mr Carroll said.
"Perhaps this is what let our bid down. What you have to understand is Beijing too was denied the Games previously and look at them today."
As disappointment turned to renewed hope, Mr Carroll threw TINCOG's support behind a new bid, this time for the 2012 Olympic Games.
We'll start getting up the posters early in 2011 (and) we'll also be sure to send in all the paperwork on time too."
The Tingalpa 2012 Web site is at plasma.worldgroup.net.au/~spengler/tingalpa2012/
|
