I find it surprising how shocked people (on QL and in the press) seem to be that Doha didn't make the list. Surely everyone realised it was a bit of a long shot, didn't they?

At the start of the bid even the organising committee said that they'd keep bidding for every olympics until they got them. Hardly the words of people confident in getting it this time round.

(btw, skdkak - It's all irrelevant now, but Israeli athletes have already participated in sporting events in Qatar, so that wouldn't have been an issue.)