"Tengo una corazonada" - or, I have a feeling/ I feel it in my bones - is Madrid's slogan for it's campaign to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Yesterday, my two roommates and I met up with Todd and Greg, two other former Jumbos and English teachers in our program, and went to a huge rally in the city's central plaza - Cibeles - in support of Madrid's candidacy to host the Olympics. When we arrived, the amount of people there was already impressive, and the crowd eventually swelled to 250,000 (according to Spanish television). As you walked toward Cibeles, event coordinators were handing out pieces of colored paper - a different color for each street leading towards the plaza. My friends and I ended up in the yellow section. The crowd was being directed by an (apparently) famous DJ at the plaza's center, who would have the different colored sections raise up their papers one by one, or in unison, all the while shouting slogans like "Porque estámos preparados" (because we're prepared), "Porque lo merecemos" (because we deserve it), and "porque lo deseamos" (because we want it). In between shouted instructions and slogans, he played the latest in Spanish and American pop, including "I've got a feeling" by the Black-Eyed Peas. The crowd also waved to the helicopter circling overhead, chanting "hola everyone."
The event culminated in one last coordinated movement by the crowd - this time, with an aerial photograph being taking by the helicopter. (Check out some photos from El País, one of Spain´s newspapers here: http://www.elpais.com/fotogaleria/Madrid/tiene/corazonada/6745-1/elpgal/). After the rally, there was a concert that featured David Bisbal (who apparently was the first person to win Spain's version of American Idol). We left before the concert started, though, as we had gotten hungry and decided it was time for some tapas.
Overall, a pretty amazing event, and one that truly demonstrates why Madrid would be a great city for the games. The citizens truly do want it – one poll reported that 98% of madrileños support hosting. And I honestly don’t know a friendlier, more entertaining, and easy-to-access city.Finally, Spaniards love their sports – Pau Gasol and the Lakers’ results make the news practically nightly here in Madrid; everyone is obsessed with their favorite futbol team, and Rafa Nadal is a national hero, so you know there would be plenty of enthusiastic fans at every event.While I’ve never been to any of the other candidate cities (Rio de Janiero, Tokyo, and Chicago), tengo una corazonada that Madrid would be the perfect place for the Olympics in 2016.Or at least that’s the feeling I’ve got.
There was an Olympic rally held a few blocks away from my apartment (I could hear the crowd roar), and after the announcement that Chicago was out in the first round, there was this stunned silence. Even so--the poll conducted in Chicago said that 47% of Chicagoans supported the Olympics to the 42% that didn't. Nothing like American apathy to compare with Madrid's enthusiasm!
I wondered if Chicago and the other cities were doing anything similar. I went to another rally on Friday when they announced the decision, and I've never heard such a collective "awwww" before. But I guess there's always 2020!
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There was an Olympic rally held a few blocks away from my apartment (I could hear the crowd roar), and after the announcement that Chicago was out in the first round, there was this stunned silence. Even so--the poll conducted in Chicago said that 47% of Chicagoans supported the Olympics to the 42% that didn't. Nothing like American apathy to compare with Madrid's enthusiasm!
I wondered if Chicago and the other cities were doing anything similar. I went to another rally on Friday when they announced the decision, and I've never heard such a collective "awwww" before. But I guess there's always 2020!
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