Off the Podium - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com

Off the Podium - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com: "In truth, New York'ss Singapore swan song was closer to fiasco than triumph. Despite a final presentation to the IOC that observers agreed was stirring--"our city needs these games in 2012," Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the delegates. New York outlasted only the muddled Moscow bid in the voting and, with just 16 votes, finished behind not only the 2012 winner London and runner-up Paris, the consensus pre-vote favorite, but a third European capital, Madrid, too. In Olympic parlance, that's not gold, silver or bronze, but off the medal podium."