dreaming of Doha receiving the Olympic flag

Doha's Olympics: If we build it, they will come

Beijing is more than two months away and work has barely begun on the stadium to host the event in 2012 but, already, the race to follow London as the host of the 2016 Olympics is heating up nicely and will reach a crucial phase in Athens, host of the last Games, on Wednesday.
There the ruling executive board of the International Olympic Committee will reduce the current group of seven cities vying to host the Games to a shortlist. Whatever they decide, it will be a landmark decision in the history of the Olympic movement.
Of the seven candidates, one in particular is vexing the minds of the lords of the rings. Normally a country less than half the size of London and with a population of fewer than a million would not stand a chance of making a shortlist alongside cities such as Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
But the gas- and oil-rich Muslim state of Qatar is not a normal country and officials in this tiny peninsula that juts out into the Arabian Gulf are already dreaming of Doha receiving the Olympic flag at the closing ceremony in London to indicate they will be the next host city.

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