What's left Of It

Yesterday I did a post about the Tokyo Olympics that is going to take place next year. The National Stadium is almost complete and most likely there are other buildings, stadiums that were specially build to host the games.

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These events are usually a great opportunity to earn not only for the hotel industry but also for public transport, restaurants, souvenir shops, you name it. Apart from that, I've always thought these cities are lucky as they get new stadiums, sport tracks, swimming pools which can be used after the big event.

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Looks like I was wrong as reality is far from what I've thought. Some cities don't know what to do with them, how to use them in order to make money and maintain them in good condition.

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This is what's left of the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Rio, photograph taken in March 2017, one year after the Olympics. This is just one stadium but the others don't look good either. The media center is demolished and who knows how many other buildings are left to rot. Rio is a big city with a total population of 6.6 million and looks like the Olympic stadium was only for the games, they don't know what to do with it.

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Greece is pretty much in the same situation. The 2004 Athens Olympics cost nearly $11 billion CNBC is wondering if the 2004 Olympics sparked the Greek financial crisis or not. Most of the venues are not used any more, which means they don't generate any revenue. Demolition costs money and we know Greece is in a very uncomfortable financial situation.

The Hellinikon Olympic Softball Stadium was the home of softball for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens

This stadium was used during the Olympics and then never again.

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Sarajevo at least has an excuse. After the Olympic Games that took place in 1984 came the civil war that changed everything.

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Some countries were smart and knew what to do. One of these countries is Finland. What you see on the photo above is the tennis palace (Olympic games 1952) in Helsinki, that is a cinema now.

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Sydney Showground, 2000 Summer Olympics, this is in use today, hosting multiple events, conferences, concerts and big celebrations. They knew what to do with it.

These are just a few cases but there are many good and bad as well. It's sad to see so much money and opportunity wasted. What's the point of building an arena or a track that is going to be used once and never again?

Beijing BMX Park, 2008 Summer Games

The Laoshan Bicycle Moto Cross park was used during the 2008 Summer Games for BMX racing and was one of nine temporary venues to be used for the games. It only hosted men’s and women’s BMX racing events, the first time the event had ever been in a Summer Olympic Games.
But it was well established that BMX biking was never going to take off in China and today the course lays in ruin, overrun by plants and bushes. source