Intimate Olympics

Bruised but not buried, Prague Mayor Pavel Bém hasn't given up the idea of hosting the Summer Olympics. The city's application for 2016 was flat-out rejected, but 2020 remains the hope. This, too, seems unrealistic if you assume that Madrid - which submitted by far the best bid for 2016 - will apply for 2020 after being denied the 2016 Games to avoid back-to-back European Olympics. (London will host the 2012 event.) Despite this bleak outlook, there is one scenario under which Bém's dream of an intimate, village-like Games could be realized. If oil prices and economic hardship cause global leisure travel to drop sharply, the IOC might scale back its plans and look at future applicants from a new angle. Little Prague, with its central location, might then be a good choice. But this scenario would require Bém to drop some of his grandiose building plans, and this might defeat his very purpose.