Politics and economics of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games

Read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/s...-2022-winter-games-are-melting-away.html?_r=0

Sochi has certainly played a role even if that cost figure continues to be misleading, incorporating huge infrastructural investments not directly related to the staging of the Games.

"People think it’s too expensive to host a Winter Olympics now and that it may be too big,” said Gerhard Heiberg, the Norwegian International Olympic Committee member who was the head of the Lillehammer Organizing Committee for the widely acclaimed 1994 Winter Games and is a driving force behind Oslo’s faltering bid.

Click to expand...

Oh great! Thank you Putin!

The Olympics would be well served to tone down a bit. In fact a lot. This is a very important issue!

I think the games should be held again by 2022 in Pyonchang or Sochi then

Meoima said:

Oh great! Thank you Putin!

Click to expand...

Oh please. I know there's a lot of "Evil Russia" sentiment on this board but that's just ridiculous. The costs of the Olympics (both Winter and Summer) have been spiralling out of control for years. Look at the disaster Rio is turning into.

If Russia was able to incorporate infrastructure that will be of benefit to the area for years to come then more power to them - because that's more than what Athens or Beijing could say.

Well, I think Putin has nothing to with this, it is just quite common to blame everything on him nowadays

Yep, agree with you Karne.

There's even talk now that they may have to have the Olympics in London again in 2016 because Rio is only about 10% ready right now. Athens was considered a huge failure and disaster when they had only finished just over 40% or the required infrastructure and other preparations by this same point before their games. Eventually they did get most everything ready, but there was a lot of worry about it. And that was at 40%!

The problem with London is obviously that the athletes' village has been turned intp residential buildings, and it will be tricky to build new ones/get the old ones back for the duration.

no one wants to host the olympics (aside from 2-3 countries).. whether it is summer or winter.. it is too expensive.. rio seems a disaster.. they're having a hard time getting it together.. heck even the world cup..

cooper said:

no one wants to host the olympics (aside from 2-3 countries).. whether it is summer or winter.. it is too expensive.. rio seems a disaster.. they're having a hard time getting it together.. heck even the world cup..

Click to expand...

Agee. I have no idea why they gave Brazil two of the biggest sport events at the same time. FIFA's rotation on the host country played the big part I guess. Still, Brazil economics and internal affairs raise the red flags all along.

The olympic movement wants to get bigger but it almost feels like its on the virge of a great decline or downsize. This is such sad news but a sad and bitter truth is never always easy to swallow.

I respect the posters on all sides of this, but here is how I feel in my heart:

The Olympics has lost its way. It has been made into a money gobbler that destroys neighbourhoods (through appropriation, taxes), creates debt (borne by the people who have to pay taxes, not the ones who lined their pockets) and brings out the worse in back-room antics. It is not just Russia (although Russia has to be the worse - 50 Billion borders on insane and if it is not a sign of sickness in society that spending that kind of money can be condoned, well . . . I think it is shameful imho . . . just my opinion), but basically anywhere that the games go and what has to be done to make them happen. Mostly, the IOC made it happen that way on purpose because it felt more money always makes everything better (if not for others, than for themselves and their own power), and it has become a kingdom unto itself, answerable to no one. The event should be scaled back to the essence of why it was started (goodwill between nations, honesty and integrity in competition, good sportsmanship, as well as the high level of athleticism that does still remain) or it deserves to implode. I am so relieved that the Toronto politicians (self-interest and ego) who wanted to get the Olympics here in Toronto have failed repeatedly to do so. Honestly, I would not miss them if they were to disappear off of the face of the earth. Seriously, the majority of people who have to really pay for them probably would be better off. The games are just not worth the cost.

GF2445 said:

The olympic movement wants to get bigger but it almost feels like its on the virge of a great decline or downsize. This is such sad news but a sad and bitter truth is never always easy to swallow.

Click to expand...

It is true. But I don't feel it is a sad thing. I am sure most people don't know even half of the winter games. Plus, do we really need a dozen speed skatings?

BusyMom said:

Agee. I have no idea why they gave Brazil two of the biggest sport events at the same time. FIFA's rotation on the host country played the big part I guess. Still, Brazil economics and internal affairs raise the red flags all along.

Click to expand...

I thought the concept in awarding Brazil both events was that the two could "piggy back" on each other.

I recently read that Montreal had finally shed all its Olympic debt.

Maybe it is time for another movement or break the games up into smaller but more frequent games.
It's either that or the Olympics needs to change it's philosophy in how to organise an Olympic games

The problem to me is most countries see the Summer games as the prize and try to hold out for that. And Europe in general is broke and its hard to get support

GF2445 said:

The olympic movement wants to get bigger but it almost feels like its on the virge of a great decline or downsize. This is such sad news but a sad and bitter truth is never always easy to swallow.

Click to expand...

phaeljones said:

I respect the posters on all sides of this, but here is how I feel in my heart:

The Olympics has lost its way. It has been made into a money gobbler that destroys neighbourhoods (through appropriation, taxes), creates debt (borne by the people who have to pay taxes, not the ones who lined their pockets) and brings out the worse in back-room antics. It is not just Russia (although Russia has to be the worse - 50 Billion borders on insane and if it is not a sign of sickness in society that spending that kind of money can be condoned, well . . . I think it is shameful imho . . . just my opinion), but basically anywhere that the games go and what has to be done to make them happen. Mostly, the IOC made it happen that way on purpose because it felt more money always makes everything better (if not for others, than for themselves and their own power), and it has become a kingdom unto itself, answerable to no one. The event should be scaled back to the essence of why it was started (goodwill between nations, honesty and integrity in competition, good sportsmanship, as well as the high level of athleticism that does still remain) or it deserves to implode. I am so relieved that the Toronto politicians (self-interest and ego) who wanted to get the Olympics here in Toronto have failed repeatedly to do so. Honestly, I would not miss them if they were to disappear off of the face of the earth. Seriously, the majority of people who have to really pay for them probably would be better off. The games are just not worth the cost.

Click to expand...

I would not shed one tear if the Olympics as they are now stopped completely and immediately. Nothing but a show and as phaeljones pointed out, it is the politicians who get theirs pockets lined and the builders and businesses who get all the contracts to build the facilities who get rich, leaving mounds of debt for the people to shoulder for often decades to come (Montreal was in 1976!!! almost 40 years ago). Yes, some of the venues still get used, but I don't think that nearly offsets the debt (keeping with Montreal, the equestrian three-day eventing was held at Bromont, which still hosts major international horse trials even now; same with Conyers, GA from Atlanta 1996). And the spirit of AMATEUR athletic competition is long gone. And frankly much of the fair play, because you clearly see a tendency to host country bias in judged events, for example.

Go away, Olympics, go away! A World Championship in any sport is in my mind just as important and worthy -- maybe even more so because not influenced by all the hype and spectacle -- as any Olympic gold.

BTW the piece I read was a different article on the same issue, and it was primarily a photo piece. The pictures were spooky and compelling, esp. the Sarajevo bobsled/sleigh track and the abandoned hotel, though the Calgary coliseum was eerie, too. I'll see if I can find it and add the link.

Sorry for the double post but easier this way -- didn't find the exact piece I read but there are plenty out there.

http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/than...lYwNzcgRwb3MDNgRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA0RGRDZfMQ--

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...Olympic-venues-in-pictures.html?frame=2833853


[the above two feature many of the same photos]



This one has summer and winter venues:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/out...-olympic-venues-fallen-into-disrepair#slide-1

It's amusing how we are talking about approving something that would break the dreams of so many children who they and their family sacrifice alot for them to pursue their dream in elite sports.

I believe the Olympics can work but they need to downsize it- in terms of making a competition format that is more TV appealing. Or the IOC can better invest in sporting associations, providing funding to help these sports get televised or get some sort of coverage on their own.

There are things about the Olympic movement that cannot be recreated at a World Championship but the world is changing. It's a shame that people write off the Winter Games as a joke because it's just insulting to the athletes who work so hard to make it so their story of sacrifice and determination to represent their nation can be heard and acknowledged once every four years.

^^ I understand your point about some of the building having no life after the Olympics. I agree that is a waste of resources on so many different levels.

However, some of the venues in the pictures above are 50+ years beyond their peak - they are obsolete and need to be torn down. I live in a neighborhood where the original homes that are 50+ years old; they are being torn down to make way for the new. Its called urban renewal.

Also Sarajevo did a have civil war there so what happened to those venues could be expected. The situation was so sad.

Since there are already world competitions in all the winter sports, I would have no problem with the Olympics being done away with. They have become much too costly and sometimes at a cost to the underprivileged of the country they are being held in.

@GF2445: Hmm, well, I guess I see little if anything in the current Olympic format that is laudable, so it it hard for me to take seriously the notion that this prone-to-corruption pageant is something worth saving for what to me would be misguided dreams. I would hope that athletes are pursuing excellence in their sports first and foremost, not an Olympic medal just for the sake of an Olympic medal. Not to mention that many peoples' lifelong dreams fail to materialize -- nobody now can seriously dream of a calling or profession in a lot of things that have changed, very recently. I have a lot of family members and friends in medical fields who are so disillusioned with the way medicine is right now and can't wait to retire or otherwise get out of it. That's a lot more tragic to me than wanting to get rid of the Olympics, or downsize them a lot. I could go on with other examples (the loss of true journalism also springs immediately to mind, with very personal examples), but a lot of things change and a lot of dreams remain castles in the air, and preserving dreams is not a reason to continue something so misguided and potentially harmful as the Olympics in their current format, imo.

Anyway, I just found your response so interesting. I couldn't imagine that view but am glad you shared it -- it certainly was informative.



@concorde -- you are right that many of the venues are old, but most of them had notes that they were used very little after the games or haven't been used in a while even if not completely derelict. Athens was only ten years ago -- that artificial whitewater stadium had to have been a colossal (pun intended) waste of resources. And Calgary -- the thing is, some of the venues are still in use, and notice some of the comments under those photos hotly stating that fact. So they could still be in use despite their age, at least in some cases. Bobsled/luge tracks could last for many, many decades, if maintained and if there were use for them. But many facilities fell immediately into decay, like those noted from Athens and Torino.