The IOC's choice of London for the 2012 Olympics surprised me a little, though they have certainly been pursuing it aggressively with the likes of Becks, Nelson Mandela, and Sebastian Coe schmoozing for the cause. I never thought New York would get it; that their selection for the final round was a sympathetic nod to 9/11 was no secret. Too many of the last several Games have been held in the US, and logistically NY would have been a nightmare. I can't see that London will be much better, however. Of the US bids, the Bay Area seemed to make the most sense (and that's not only because I was a volunteer for BASOC). We might have stood a slightly better chance than New York in the final round, but we would not have won for this Games.