Believe it or not, even after all this time I still keep an eye on olympic matters. I’m interested in cities as places and destinations, and it seems to me that awarding a city an Olympic games means it becomes the focus of the world’s attention. Thus I’m interested in the bidding process; the competition between cities for the status of being the temporary focal point of human activity.

I just came across this USA Today article. The Americans are very worried that Trump will damage the chances of Los Angeles being awarded the 2024 olympics in September. As the article itself points out, in the grand scheme of things, this is a minor point – there is a lot more serious stuff to worry about these days. Yet, on another level, I get the impression that to the americans, this matters. By 2024 it will be almost thirty years since an American city hosted the olympics. For a people who seem to think they are the most important nation in the world, best at everything, knowing that hurts. They think it’s their turn to put on a show. The problem is, Trump. There is no way the IOC could opt for an American city with Donald’s immigration policies as they are. Even without that, the man’s an object of widespread ridicule and scorn. Awarding America an Olympics would mean the IOC giving trump a dignity and authority which I think they would be reluctant to award him. On the other hand, similar things could be said of La Pen in france: the rise of the front national could seriously effect Paris’s bid too, otherwise I’d be saying the french capital would be a shoe in.

You see now why I’m interested in this process. Of course, it was born of my participation in London 2012, but I have come to believe that olympic bids can be used as a barometer for global opinion and world affairs.