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Post-Olympic Abandonment

210 points by pmcpinto 10y ago

lawless123 10y ago
There is analogy here to be drawn with winning the lottery. Both look great but lead to ruin if not managed properly.
warcode 10y ago
There really should be a rule that you have to maintain and operate the olympic venues as a public serivce for at least 4 years after their completion if you want to host.
- ufo 10y ago
  And what punishment would you get for breaking that rule?
- funkymike 10y ago
  Wouldn't it be better to plan further ahead and make a requirement that the venues need to be in use for X years prior to the games? This would ensure that the facilities are usable outside of the Olympics.
lhopki01 10y ago
There are many articles about abandoned Olympic venues but I've never seen one about successful former Olympic venues. I'd like to see what happened to all the venues in London and Beijing. From my bit of knowledge a lot of the London ones were temporary or have been successfully transitioned.
- docdeek 10y ago
  My impression was that Sydney also did well with it’s infrastructure after the games. Maybe a result of a sports-hungry public?
  - oliyoung 10y ago
    The main Olympic park is about 45' outside of the CBD, but it's regularly used. All the football codes (plus more) use the main Olympic Stadium, the surrounding venues are regularly in use too https://www.olympic.org/news/sydney-s-olympic-venues-provide-lasting-legacy https://www.olympic.org/news/sydney-s-olympic-venues-provide...
    - Joakal 10y ago
      Olympics in Sydney was a money pit. An expensive legacy. I'm not sure if the events followed since then had allowed recovery. http://theconversation.com/hosting-the-olympics-cash-cow-or-money-pit-7403 http://theconversation.com/hosting-the-olympics-cash-cow-or-... http://economicstudents.com/2016/09/road-ruin-economic-case-choosing-not-host-olympic-games/ http://economicstudents.com/2016/09/road-ruin-economic-case-... There are actually a lot of academic studies now into the Sydney 2000 Olympics economics. Quite interesting.
    - simonbyrne 10y ago
      I haven't been there in about 10 years (I moved overseas), but one of the things that bugged me about Sydney Olympic Park was that it felt a bit like a barren business park.
      - mianos 10y ago
        Although slightly barren at the time, urban development has completely surrounded the main Olympic area in Sydney. There has been masses of housing developed across the whole area. The green spaces have been maintained and further developed over the years into some of the best parks in Sydney. Most of the facilities are running events full time and many events that used to to be hosted further to the east of the city are now at Olympic park due to the ease of transport and centrality to the majority of the population. Personally I think the Olympics are a complete joke and totally corrupted by bribes, commercialism and professional sport. They are long past their use by date and bound to take a hit when corruption becomes more unacceptable in more places, but, the facilities built for Sydney do not belong in an essay like this.
- evandijk70 10y ago
  I have been to the athletics venue in Beijing. They have turned it into an ice playground with go-karts, a small ice-skating rink, and several other snow-related games. Inside the stadium itself they had photo's of the medalists and equipment with explanations. It cost a couple of dollars to enter and it was quite busy, so I guess they were able to cover maintenance cost from the entrance fees.
- johannes1234321 10y ago
  Munich 1972 is relatively successful in it's afterlife: * The Olympic village is rented out, among other things with relatively cheap apartments for students * The Olympic Stadium serves as stadium for FC Bayern and TSV 1860 football (soccer) clubs till 2002 and in summer for open air concerts, in recent years there also had been "fun sport" events and track&field competiotions * The Olympic swimming arena is a busy public bath (one rare chance to swim Olympic distances, most other pools are shorter) * The Olympic hall is used for trade fair events, bicycle races, share holder meetings, concerts, ... and is quite well booked * The canoeing tracks etc. are still in use by clubs * The horse riding arena is still used * The Olympic park is a popular place to hang out * For the bicycle racing area there had been different attempts for a use but they failed * There is a small train station with some tracks which wasn't used since 1972 (or maybe since football (soccer) world championship 1974?) this is supposed to become a cycling path "soon"
  - kiesel 10y ago
    Plus, the press center tower now serves several companies as offices (with a very nice view from the top onto the Olympic park with the stadium).
  - arrrg 10y ago
    Our first stop in Munich was the Olympic Park and we were quite surprised how beautiful and alive the place was. Entering the swimming hall we immediately wanted to go swimming (but sadly didn’t have the proper gear with us). When you enter the hall you overlook the Olympic pool (there is no wall or glass separating you from the noise and the smell) and that’s very tempting. If you visit Munich I would recommend visiting the Olympic Park, but do bring you bathing things, just in case.
  - rangibaby 10y ago
    The Munich olympics were also a great chance for the great graphic designers of the time to show off their system. The event icons lasted for many olympics after.
- jblok 10y ago
  The main Olympic Stadium is now used full time by a local Premier League football team, West Ham. The Olympic pool is now a public swimming pool anyone can go in for £5. Not sure about the other venues, but the whole surrounding area is a new park which is very well used. All in all, a pretty successful legacy.
  - pricechild 10y ago
    I'm sorry but this is a question of sustainability, not legacy. They're not even close.
    - allengeorge 10y ago
      I don't understand the difference in this context. The parent gave a few examples of how the Olympic venues in London have been repurposed for long-term use, so... Are you referring to financial sustainability? The sustainability of the Olympic model? What exactly?
      - milliams 10y ago
        I'm guessing it's a reference to the TV show Twenty Twelve, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYbA2Xsu6VE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYbA2Xsu6VE
      - paublyrne 10y ago
        He may be referring to the fact that the city rent out the Olympic stadium in London at a very low price to a club who can't fill it and which requires a lot of policing costs. West ham were given the lease do that the stadium wouldn't stand idle.
- Angostura 10y ago
  Well, I can tell you about the Olympic Park in London. It's used a lot. My kids have their swimming lessons in the olympic pool, and friends kids have diving lessons there. A friend of mine is a coach who runs sessions in the velodrome, BMX and mountain biking tracks. The downsized stadium is now home to West Ham - although fans aren't greatly enamoured with their new stadium which is mixed athletics/football, so the atmosphere is perhaps missing. During the summer we go there a lot the playgrounds and gardens are gorgeous. Yes, a lot of the temporary venues have gone and there is a vigorous building programme, building both flats and office space.
- krona 10y ago
  Perhaps lesser known, but I've heard IOC members mention in interviews on the subject that they thought the 1994 winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway offers one of the best templates for Olympic sustainability. It hosted the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, too.
  - wjoe 10y ago
    One interesting use of a Winter Olympic venue - the sports arena in Hamar, which was used as an ice skating arena in the Lillehammer Winter Olympics is used once a year for The Gathering, a massive LAN party with around 5000 attendees, and it's also used throughout the year for winter sports too, they add and remove the ice as needed.
- bryanlarsen 10y ago
  The venues from the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary are forming the basis of their 2026 bid, so they must still be in good shape.
  - misterhtmlcss 10y ago
    We hosted the only Olympics in history that I've heard of that turned a profit. I live in Calgary and we still talk about how unique it was compared to other Olympics around the world. There are definitely some winners post-Olympics, but honestly I don't think they make sense anymore. Seems that Olympics has gone down the wrong path in so many ways with the demands from the IOC requiring bigger and bigger budgets, private organizations taking stricter and stricter control over content even social media that it's just not the same any more when compared to 20+ years ago. I remember feeling an emotion for the older Olympics that's just not there as much anymore.
    - WildUtah 10y ago
      The 1984 LA games apparently turned a profit as well.
  - theluketaylor 10y ago
    I remember using lots of the olympic facilities when my family lived in Calgary in the late 90s. The ski jump and bobsled are used for national team training and the public can ride them in a slower and safer manner for a fee. I think winter olympics are much easier to run sustainably than summer games since there are far fewer sports, and the ones that do exist don't require nearly the same level of specialized venues. Bobsled and ski jump are pretty unique, but other than that everything needed for winter games is highly reusable. Most of the venues are not even that seasonal with the right planning. Calgary is in an excellent position to host winter games. The venues that have been maintained and used for nearly 30 years and the city has excellent light rail transit to move between venues. Calgary is used to opening its doors to millions of visitors in a short time every year thanks to the Stampede, so the is a huge volunteer core and tons of hotel space. There have been calls for permanent olympic venues to help hold down costs; I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better option than Calgary for the winter games.
- StevePerkins 10y ago
  Atlanta has always felt snubbed by hostility from the IOC, who didn't like the level of private corporate sponsorship used to fund the 1996 Games (nevermind that two decades later, it would be considered modestly quaint today). However, it was overwhelmingly a successful Games. It created a lasted economic boom, and much of the construction saw continued use or was repurposed afterward. Today, Atlanta is not really remembered as a "bad" Olympics (because international sports organizatinos like the IOC and FIFA have become more disgustingly capitalistic than we ever were). We are likewise not really remembered as an "success" story either, frankly because most cultural commentary prefers not to think about southern American cities at all outside the context of sweeping generalizations about racism (1). But quietly, it was an example of a success story for the host city. (1) Yeah, between the '96 Games and this year's Super Bowl, Atlanta sports fans are a pretty bitter crowd. Don't mind us!
  - lmm 10y ago
    It's remembered as a publicity stunt for Coca-Cola, no?
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    For me the thing that comes to mind most readily is the FBI screwing up and accusing that one poor dude of setting that bomb...
    - echelon 10y ago
      They're supposedly making a film about Richard Jewell starring Jonah Hill. I'm not sure who else is attached. It might be in development hell at this point as the film was first announced several years ago.
  - johannes1234321 10y ago
    I always remember the extra cheering the team of the country of Georgia received during the parade of nations. Some Georgians probably confused the state they are in with the country :-) https://youtu.be/5Fmk2bS8OWk?t=350 https://youtu.be/5Fmk2bS8OWk?t=350
  - 10y ago
- danpalmer 10y ago
  I live next to the olympic park in Stratford and it's pretty great. - The main stadium is now the local football team's home ground and gets used for concerts as well. - The olympic pool is an open public pool that anyone can use and looks like it gets a fair amount of use. - The park itself is a nice open space to be in with lots more flats and shops being built in and around it. - I have several colleagues who train at the velodrome. - The athletes housing created thousands of new flats that, are pretty much filled and provided a lot of homes for low income families. I really like living in Stratford and I don't think I would like it anywhere near as much if the olympics hadn't been there.
  - thegavsie 10y ago
    Even living in a different part of London (Wimbledon), we have the benefits of reusing the equipment. 200 tonnes of sand and the nets from the beach volleyball event were used to make two new beach volleyball courts in Wimbledon Park which are used all the time.
  - pablobaz 10y ago
    The olympic whitewater course at Lee valley is also heavily used and a great facility.
  - duiker101 10y ago
    Another thing from the article that struck me as good for London is how little it costed compared to the others > The games set back Sochi $51 billion, London $11.6 billion and Beijing at least $40 billion That is no small amount, I wonder how much of it was corruption and bad management.
    - bane 10y ago
      Corruption played a big part, but Sochi had zero infrastructure at the start, it all had to be built from wholecloth, and Beijing need to transform large parts of an existing city to become an international showpiece. London already has incredible infrastructure and is already iconic. It seems that the strategy the London Olympics really used was to simply extend off of the existing systems in place and build up in a cheap area bringing new economic development to that area instead of trying to retrofit the city core.
- MomentarySanity 10y ago
  Lake Placid, NY still uses the Olympic venues. A lot of winter athletes train there.
  - SegFaultx64 10y ago
    And, fun fact, the Olympic village is now a prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Institution,_Ray_Brook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Instituti...
    - MomentarySanity 10y ago
      Another fun fact: those dorms were specifically designed for easy conversion into a prison. Apparently the athletes were not super thrilled.
- bigmanwalter 10y ago
  The Beijing Olympic swimming pool is now a water park!
  - timr 10y ago
    A quarter of it is. The other pools are still being used for a variety of things, including as a big conference center (APEC was held there in 2015). They're going to re-purpose the whole thing for the winter Olympics. I think it's supposed to become the curling venue.
- batbomb 10y ago
  Salt Lake City still very actively uses almost all venues, even year-round.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
erelde 10y ago
Makes me think of the Roman's tradition of building wood theatres, but now instead of wood and clearly saying "temporary" it's cement promising "stability and prosperity".
emondi 10y ago
Starts with a bad example. The maracaná is from the 1950 world cup, also used last world cup.
- cbernini 10y ago
  Not exactly. It wasn't the same stadium at all. The original Maracanã received something around 1.2 bi BRL (387.55 mi USD if we consider today's rate) in order to receive the Olympic games. Sergio Cabral' (former RJ governor) prision was motivated (among other things) because of that
  - emondi 10y ago
    So is it not going to be used again?
    - woliveirajr 10y ago
      Probably it will. Problem is the "owner" (Odebrecht and EBX, both companies involved in many issues in the Lava-Jato investigation) don't have money to fix it, nor are potential "clients" (soccer teams) willing to contribute to fix it or to pay the amounts that are being charged to use it.
- woliveirajr 10y ago
  It was a good deal from 1950 up until the last world cup. The stadium had to go through a great change for the 2014 world cup, and some other reforms for the 2016 olympic games. The costs of it (including corruption) didn't pay off and now the stadium is a completely mess.
santialbo 10y ago
I like to think that Barcelona is a good example of how Olympic Games should impact a city. Growth was controlled and it allowed for regeneration of some shady parts of the city. They didn't build crazy venues and the ones they did build are still in use today 25 years later.
- eloycoto 10y ago
  I fully agree with this. Barcelona is one of the best examples as for how the Olympic games can help. London is a great example, but in London is easy to use the large venues. Barcelona was more challenging and they made well.
  - jowiar 10y ago
    I think a better way to phrase it is "Barcelona is THE example". It's sort of like citing a unicorn when deciding to start a company -- sure, there's upside potential, but it's a whole lot less likely than you think.
  - intoverflow2 10y ago
    > London is a great example The area was regenerating itself just fine. As someone who lives in it long before the games. The olympics did nothing for the area and it's now partly going to be host to a cement factory, thanks Olympics.
roystonvassey 10y ago
'Average overrun for Games since 1960 is 156% in real terms' [1]. On the whole, costs of hosting Olympic Games is a net-negative for most cities. I think it isn't as popular as it once was in attracting tourists; soccer world cups are probably better for that. Given that this is the case, they should just fix one host city/country and host the Olympics only there. It will save unnecessary expenses, especially for developing nations such as Brazil. EDIT: Added source here [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_the_Olympic_Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_the_Olympic_Games
- Joakal 10y ago
  Politicians talk of lasting legacy but a lot of studies pretty much showed that no one wants to hang around once the Olympics is over. So, to recover the cost, maybe they need to host a really long Olympics?
saalweachter 10y ago
Would it negatively impact the Olympics if we stopped rotating them at this point? I mean, besides the IOC missing out on the opportunity compete with FIFA on graft? Let's just locate the Olympics in a permanent facility -- Greece, if they'll have them, for tradition. I think between "not rebuilding everything from scratch every four years" and the expectation of recurring events, the single host country could both run the games more efficiently and it would benefit the economy a lot more -- sure, it'd only benefit the one host country, but it would be going from "not benefiting a lot host countries (who go over-budget and never make back the money on tourism)" to "actually benefiting one host country". Let the IOC auction off the opening show if you want to give one country a chance to show off every four years.
- pmarreck 10y ago
  You could do that or you could just keep it at the same facility for, say, 20 years and THEN move it. So a country could get a 20-year economic boost (hopefully, at least long-term) and at least re-use the facilities a few times
  - sandworm101 10y ago
    I think any boom would be short lived. The travel novelty would grow thin. The repeated use of the same facilities would also impact the sports. More fundimental is the question of any boom. London didnt see much, with some shops downtown instead seeing marked reductions. Vancouver barely broke even. China didnt do it for the money. And the less said about Sochi's costs the better.
    - intoverflow2 10y ago
      > London didnt see much Part of it is on the verge of being converted into a cement factory (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/11/olympic-park-london-plan-cement-concrete-plants-causes-uproar https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/11/olympic-park...) Honestly believe a world without the Olympic games is a better world, if London can't find much use for them and Rio is already letting them fall into disrepair. What on earth is the point in this.
sizzzzlerz 10y ago
It seems to me that the countries that maintained their Olympic facilities (England, Australia, US, Norway, Germany, China) all tilt to the wealthier end of the spectrum. Conversely, the poorer ones, Brazil and Greece, really couldn't afford hosting the games in the first place, let alone maintaining the venues afterwards. These days, its the wealthier countries that turn down the offer to host because of the costs while the poorer ones, often led by corrupt and bankrupt governments, are awarded the "honor" resulting into even deeper poverty for their people and short-term glorification of the government.
- braythwayt 10y ago
  This rings true with me, and I’ll highlight your phrase "corrupt and bankrupt governments.” I’d bet that the amount of waste and abandonment is in inverse proportion to the democracy score of the host country. The more democratic the country, the more likely they are to either reject the Olympic outright, or manage the investment effectively.
- chiph 10y ago
  Even in the US, cities are catching on that hosting an Olympics is likely a money-losing event, and they'll be saddled with poorly-built large facilities afterwards (why build well when you can build fast?). Permanent facilities, perhaps two or four per continent (for winter & summer games, and two have two host countries), would likely be a good answer.
  - omegaham 10y ago
    In the US at least, this is offset by the fact that large metropolitan areas have excellent D1 college facilities along with multi-use professional sports stadiums. More importantly, those facilities are already being used and will be used in the future. As far as I can tell, the biggest hassle for American cities is traffic. All of the facilities are there, but putting them into use all at once with tens of thousands of foreign tourists would be an utter nightmare, especially with American reliance on cars and lack of public transportation options.
grabcocque 10y ago
This is an entirely unfair representation of the current state of Olympic venues in London. The Olympic stadium is used by West Ham Football Club every week for league and championship football. The Olympic village has been converted into state of the art affordable housing set in a gorgeous new green space. The swimming and diving and velodrome facilities are state of the art, oversubscribed, and at the forefront of creating a new generation of athletes. I myself am having Kayaking lessons at the London White Water centre Olympic course. Of course other major Olympic venues predated the bid and have continued to be in continuous use. Wimbledon, Wembley, the Excel, the O2, Eton Dorney... London has not simply "abandoned" anything, and to pretend otherwise is dishonest.
- timr 10y ago
  The photos, and most of the text, are about venues other than London. London is called out as an example of good olympic development, not bad.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- jads 10y ago
  I think you may have skimmed the article a bit too quick: >London is novel among recent Olympic hosts in that its plan for the Olympics was focused primarily on what would happen after the games.
prodikl 10y ago
Living in Seoul, I played hockey at the olympic stadium there. There are regular baseball games and the entire area is very developed.
marcosdumay 10y ago
Rio is a bad place to look at. The place is broken for the same reason its last 3 governors are on jail (and older ones have been there), not because it hosted the Olympics last year. I don't think the ROI was positive, but I also don't think that level of abandonment will last.
- StavrosK 10y ago
  Hey, at least they're in jail.
  - marcosdumay 10y ago
    Yep. I do personally have the opinion that the World Cup and Olympics were worth much more than their cost just by the fact that they bankrupted every kind of government here and pressed the people into revolting. I estimate they were the hightest ROI project our government ever had when considered that indirect gain.
    - StavrosK 10y ago
      I'd agree with you, I wish lots of our corrupt officials went to jail, but I'm afraid it's not happening...
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - marcosdumay 10y ago
        Well, our most important of our corrupts are still free, and nobody is certain if they are ever going into jail (what is already a huge improvement). The good part is that it takes an entire mafia to run a country. I doubt its heads alone are powerful enough.
        personlurking 10y ago
        Well, it (Lava Jato) still hasn't reached the Judicial, plus Pezão is in hot water and Lula possibly will make a 2018 return. With all the people taken out of poverty in the early 2000s having returned to it, perhaps people will somehow want Lula back....if not, it could be Bolsonaro following Temer. So much going on.
praptak 10y ago
Big sport events are a huge scam. The corrupt organizations that have the rights keep money from ads, tickets and bribes, sometimes even requiring changes to the local law to protect their revenue. The supposed benefit for the host is that they can keep the infrastructure, paid by their own money. How generous! Fortunately the public opinion has generally recognized this fact and there are protests against organizers. I for one, am proud that we told the fuckers to GTFO of Kraków.
sandworm101 10y ago
Glad to see Vancouver doesnt show in any of these articles. It can be done well enough. Nobody seems to have any great complaints about those games (2010). The facilities are still in regular use ... which one would expect of a winter games in canada.
- schwap 10y ago
  The facilities from the '88 games (Calgary) are similarly still actively used for training and by the public. edit: '88 not '86
  - cbowal 10y ago
    The Olympics were held in Calgary in 1988.
    - schwap 10y ago
      Yep, absolutely correct (d'oh).
ryderfast 10y ago
Why not just have one venue, but have different hosts organise the opening ceremony? Stick one large venue on an island somewhere, and then hand the responsibility of running it to a different nation each time.
Animats 10y ago
There were articles like that before the Rio games. The Beijing facilities, which were in a city that could use big sports facilities, are now mostly abandoned.[1] The big "birds nest" stadium now has an ice rink in it, but the huge grandstands are unused. London is doing OK with their leftover facilities.[2] The ones that aren't near a large city, such as Sochi, are abandoned. [1] http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ghosts-of-olympics-past?articleId=USRTR30UOB http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ghosts-of-olympics-past?... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/london-olympic-legacy-three-years-on-2012-games https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/...
mixmastamyk 10y ago
I had hoped for more investment in sports in Brazil as a result of the games, and indeed the transportation improvements in/out of Barra are incredible. But unfortunately, the govt of Rio is now totally broke and on the brink of failure. To put it into perspective, in much of the country they have stopped paying their police officers a salary. ((boggle)) Not the safest city in the first place, and maintenance was never a strong suit of Brazil. So the stadiums are just a symptom. Did they move the futebol games to Engenhao or something? Why would Maracana be abandoned? Where are they playing all the games that still need to be played? It would make sense to rotate them to keep the stadiums used at least part of the month. I'm trying to think of a way to maintain them and provide sports activities for kids. Normally, I dislike the branding of stadiums, but perhaps a corporate sponsorship of each stadium is a solution, while the govt should focus on its citizens.
- personlurking 10y ago
  Brasília made their WC stadium into a bus parking lot, IIRC. Recife built their WC stadium, the Arena Pernambuco, in a neighboring city, thinking it'd be a good way to build inland and incentivize development, but I'm pretty sure that has not happened. People would have to basically take the bus an hour or more to get there, and with 500 assaults on Recife buses in 2017 alone, it's a bit hard to do so. A light certainly went out in Maracanã when they removed the "geral" (cheap seats for the working class) in 2005, long before the WC or OG.
a3n 10y ago
Any local government or ngo that proposes to its local citizens that it should host an Olympics should immediately be investigated for corruption. (Tongue barely in cheek.)
sly010 10y ago
As the article also mentions, London spent a lot of it's olympic preparations thinking about what will happen to all the building and materials after the games. I was in design school at the time and we all submitted proposals for reusable architecture, etc. There was so much idealism, we all assumed things will be turned into sculptures or street furniture and the olympic park will itself will become an open site where people will hang out, etc. I wasn't in London for the games, but planned to go back to see the park after. When I got there a month after the Olympics, it was all abandoned, closed, fenced around and all you could see is giant empty parking lots. If they did any recycling I didn't see any of it.
mikeweiss 10y ago
Maracana Stadium was not built for the Olympics, it was just used as a venue. The stadium was built in 1950...
65827 10y ago
Really proud to be able to say I voted against hosting the olympics in Colorado a lifetime ago, seems like we are always a bit ahead of the times.
- joeframbach 10y ago
  The Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center is excellent, though!

210 points by pmcpinto 10y ago

There is analogy here to be drawn with winning the lottery. Both look great but lead to ruin if not managed properly.

There really should be a rule that you have to maintain and operate the olympic venues as a public serivce for at least 4 years after their completion if you want to host.

ufo 10y ago
And what punishment would you get for breaking that rule?
funkymike 10y ago
Wouldn't it be better to plan further ahead and make a requirement that the venues need to be in use for X years prior to the games? This would ensure that the facilities are usable outside of the Olympics.

lhopki01 10y ago

There are many articles about abandoned Olympic venues but I've never seen one about successful former Olympic venues. I'd like to see what happened to all the venues in London and Beijing. From my bit of knowledge a lot of the London ones were temporary or have been successfully transitioned.

docdeek 10y ago
My impression was that Sydney also did well with it’s infrastructure after the games. Maybe a result of a sports-hungry public?
- oliyoung 10y ago
  The main Olympic park is about 45' outside of the CBD, but it's regularly used. All the football codes (plus more) use the main Olympic Stadium, the surrounding venues are regularly in use too https://www.olympic.org/news/sydney-s-olympic-venues-provide-lasting-legacy https://www.olympic.org/news/sydney-s-olympic-venues-provide...
  - Joakal 10y ago
    Olympics in Sydney was a money pit. An expensive legacy. I'm not sure if the events followed since then had allowed recovery. http://theconversation.com/hosting-the-olympics-cash-cow-or-money-pit-7403 http://theconversation.com/hosting-the-olympics-cash-cow-or-... http://economicstudents.com/2016/09/road-ruin-economic-case-choosing-not-host-olympic-games/ http://economicstudents.com/2016/09/road-ruin-economic-case-... There are actually a lot of academic studies now into the Sydney 2000 Olympics economics. Quite interesting.
  - simonbyrne 10y ago
    I haven't been there in about 10 years (I moved overseas), but one of the things that bugged me about Sydney Olympic Park was that it felt a bit like a barren business park.
    - mianos 10y ago
      Although slightly barren at the time, urban development has completely surrounded the main Olympic area in Sydney. There has been masses of housing developed across the whole area. The green spaces have been maintained and further developed over the years into some of the best parks in Sydney. Most of the facilities are running events full time and many events that used to to be hosted further to the east of the city are now at Olympic park due to the ease of transport and centrality to the majority of the population. Personally I think the Olympics are a complete joke and totally corrupted by bribes, commercialism and professional sport. They are long past their use by date and bound to take a hit when corruption becomes more unacceptable in more places, but, the facilities built for Sydney do not belong in an essay like this.
evandijk70 10y ago
I have been to the athletics venue in Beijing. They have turned it into an ice playground with go-karts, a small ice-skating rink, and several other snow-related games. Inside the stadium itself they had photo's of the medalists and equipment with explanations. It cost a couple of dollars to enter and it was quite busy, so I guess they were able to cover maintenance cost from the entrance fees.
johannes1234321 10y ago
Munich 1972 is relatively successful in it's afterlife: * The Olympic village is rented out, among other things with relatively cheap apartments for students * The Olympic Stadium serves as stadium for FC Bayern and TSV 1860 football (soccer) clubs till 2002 and in summer for open air concerts, in recent years there also had been "fun sport" events and track&field competiotions * The Olympic swimming arena is a busy public bath (one rare chance to swim Olympic distances, most other pools are shorter) * The Olympic hall is used for trade fair events, bicycle races, share holder meetings, concerts, ... and is quite well booked * The canoeing tracks etc. are still in use by clubs * The horse riding arena is still used * The Olympic park is a popular place to hang out * For the bicycle racing area there had been different attempts for a use but they failed * There is a small train station with some tracks which wasn't used since 1972 (or maybe since football (soccer) world championship 1974?) this is supposed to become a cycling path "soon"
- kiesel 10y ago
  Plus, the press center tower now serves several companies as offices (with a very nice view from the top onto the Olympic park with the stadium).
- arrrg 10y ago
  Our first stop in Munich was the Olympic Park and we were quite surprised how beautiful and alive the place was. Entering the swimming hall we immediately wanted to go swimming (but sadly didn’t have the proper gear with us). When you enter the hall you overlook the Olympic pool (there is no wall or glass separating you from the noise and the smell) and that’s very tempting. If you visit Munich I would recommend visiting the Olympic Park, but do bring you bathing things, just in case.
- rangibaby 10y ago
  The Munich olympics were also a great chance for the great graphic designers of the time to show off their system. The event icons lasted for many olympics after.
jblok 10y ago
The main Olympic Stadium is now used full time by a local Premier League football team, West Ham. The Olympic pool is now a public swimming pool anyone can go in for £5. Not sure about the other venues, but the whole surrounding area is a new park which is very well used. All in all, a pretty successful legacy.
- pricechild 10y ago
  I'm sorry but this is a question of sustainability, not legacy. They're not even close.
  - allengeorge 10y ago
    I don't understand the difference in this context. The parent gave a few examples of how the Olympic venues in London have been repurposed for long-term use, so... Are you referring to financial sustainability? The sustainability of the Olympic model? What exactly?
    - milliams 10y ago
      I'm guessing it's a reference to the TV show Twenty Twelve, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYbA2Xsu6VE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYbA2Xsu6VE
    - paublyrne 10y ago
      He may be referring to the fact that the city rent out the Olympic stadium in London at a very low price to a club who can't fill it and which requires a lot of policing costs. West ham were given the lease do that the stadium wouldn't stand idle.
Angostura 10y ago
Well, I can tell you about the Olympic Park in London. It's used a lot. My kids have their swimming lessons in the olympic pool, and friends kids have diving lessons there. A friend of mine is a coach who runs sessions in the velodrome, BMX and mountain biking tracks. The downsized stadium is now home to West Ham - although fans aren't greatly enamoured with their new stadium which is mixed athletics/football, so the atmosphere is perhaps missing. During the summer we go there a lot the playgrounds and gardens are gorgeous. Yes, a lot of the temporary venues have gone and there is a vigorous building programme, building both flats and office space.
krona 10y ago
Perhaps lesser known, but I've heard IOC members mention in interviews on the subject that they thought the 1994 winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway offers one of the best templates for Olympic sustainability. It hosted the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, too.
- wjoe 10y ago
  One interesting use of a Winter Olympic venue - the sports arena in Hamar, which was used as an ice skating arena in the Lillehammer Winter Olympics is used once a year for The Gathering, a massive LAN party with around 5000 attendees, and it's also used throughout the year for winter sports too, they add and remove the ice as needed.
bryanlarsen 10y ago
The venues from the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary are forming the basis of their 2026 bid, so they must still be in good shape.
- misterhtmlcss 10y ago
  We hosted the only Olympics in history that I've heard of that turned a profit. I live in Calgary and we still talk about how unique it was compared to other Olympics around the world. There are definitely some winners post-Olympics, but honestly I don't think they make sense anymore. Seems that Olympics has gone down the wrong path in so many ways with the demands from the IOC requiring bigger and bigger budgets, private organizations taking stricter and stricter control over content even social media that it's just not the same any more when compared to 20+ years ago. I remember feeling an emotion for the older Olympics that's just not there as much anymore.
  - WildUtah 10y ago
    The 1984 LA games apparently turned a profit as well.
- theluketaylor 10y ago
  I remember using lots of the olympic facilities when my family lived in Calgary in the late 90s. The ski jump and bobsled are used for national team training and the public can ride them in a slower and safer manner for a fee. I think winter olympics are much easier to run sustainably than summer games since there are far fewer sports, and the ones that do exist don't require nearly the same level of specialized venues. Bobsled and ski jump are pretty unique, but other than that everything needed for winter games is highly reusable. Most of the venues are not even that seasonal with the right planning. Calgary is in an excellent position to host winter games. The venues that have been maintained and used for nearly 30 years and the city has excellent light rail transit to move between venues. Calgary is used to opening its doors to millions of visitors in a short time every year thanks to the Stampede, so the is a huge volunteer core and tons of hotel space. There have been calls for permanent olympic venues to help hold down costs; I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better option than Calgary for the winter games.
StevePerkins 10y ago
Atlanta has always felt snubbed by hostility from the IOC, who didn't like the level of private corporate sponsorship used to fund the 1996 Games (nevermind that two decades later, it would be considered modestly quaint today). However, it was overwhelmingly a successful Games. It created a lasted economic boom, and much of the construction saw continued use or was repurposed afterward. Today, Atlanta is not really remembered as a "bad" Olympics (because international sports organizatinos like the IOC and FIFA have become more disgustingly capitalistic than we ever were). We are likewise not really remembered as an "success" story either, frankly because most cultural commentary prefers not to think about southern American cities at all outside the context of sweeping generalizations about racism (1). But quietly, it was an example of a success story for the host city. (1) Yeah, between the '96 Games and this year's Super Bowl, Atlanta sports fans are a pretty bitter crowd. Don't mind us!
- lmm 10y ago
  It's remembered as a publicity stunt for Coca-Cola, no?
- jessaustin 10y ago
  For me the thing that comes to mind most readily is the FBI screwing up and accusing that one poor dude of setting that bomb...
  - echelon 10y ago
    They're supposedly making a film about Richard Jewell starring Jonah Hill. I'm not sure who else is attached. It might be in development hell at this point as the film was first announced several years ago.
- johannes1234321 10y ago
  I always remember the extra cheering the team of the country of Georgia received during the parade of nations. Some Georgians probably confused the state they are in with the country :-) https://youtu.be/5Fmk2bS8OWk?t=350 https://youtu.be/5Fmk2bS8OWk?t=350
- 10y ago
danpalmer 10y ago
I live next to the olympic park in Stratford and it's pretty great. - The main stadium is now the local football team's home ground and gets used for concerts as well. - The olympic pool is an open public pool that anyone can use and looks like it gets a fair amount of use. - The park itself is a nice open space to be in with lots more flats and shops being built in and around it. - I have several colleagues who train at the velodrome. - The athletes housing created thousands of new flats that, are pretty much filled and provided a lot of homes for low income families. I really like living in Stratford and I don't think I would like it anywhere near as much if the olympics hadn't been there.
- thegavsie 10y ago
  Even living in a different part of London (Wimbledon), we have the benefits of reusing the equipment. 200 tonnes of sand and the nets from the beach volleyball event were used to make two new beach volleyball courts in Wimbledon Park which are used all the time.
- pablobaz 10y ago
  The olympic whitewater course at Lee valley is also heavily used and a great facility.
- duiker101 10y ago
  Another thing from the article that struck me as good for London is how little it costed compared to the others > The games set back Sochi $51 billion, London $11.6 billion and Beijing at least $40 billion That is no small amount, I wonder how much of it was corruption and bad management.
  - bane 10y ago
    Corruption played a big part, but Sochi had zero infrastructure at the start, it all had to be built from wholecloth, and Beijing need to transform large parts of an existing city to become an international showpiece. London already has incredible infrastructure and is already iconic. It seems that the strategy the London Olympics really used was to simply extend off of the existing systems in place and build up in a cheap area bringing new economic development to that area instead of trying to retrofit the city core.
MomentarySanity 10y ago
Lake Placid, NY still uses the Olympic venues. A lot of winter athletes train there.
- SegFaultx64 10y ago
  And, fun fact, the Olympic village is now a prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Institution,_Ray_Brook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Instituti...
  - MomentarySanity 10y ago
    Another fun fact: those dorms were specifically designed for easy conversion into a prison. Apparently the athletes were not super thrilled.
bigmanwalter 10y ago
The Beijing Olympic swimming pool is now a water park!
- timr 10y ago
  A quarter of it is. The other pools are still being used for a variety of things, including as a big conference center (APEC was held there in 2015). They're going to re-purpose the whole thing for the winter Olympics. I think it's supposed to become the curling venue.
batbomb 10y ago
Salt Lake City still very actively uses almost all venues, even year-round.
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erelde 10y ago

Makes me think of the Roman's tradition of building wood theatres, but now instead of wood and clearly saying "temporary" it's cement promising "stability and prosperity".

emondi 10y ago

Starts with a bad example. The maracaná is from the 1950 world cup, also used last world cup.

cbernini 10y ago
Not exactly. It wasn't the same stadium at all. The original Maracanã received something around 1.2 bi BRL (387.55 mi USD if we consider today's rate) in order to receive the Olympic games. Sergio Cabral' (former RJ governor) prision was motivated (among other things) because of that
- emondi 10y ago
  So is it not going to be used again?
  - woliveirajr 10y ago
    Probably it will. Problem is the "owner" (Odebrecht and EBX, both companies involved in many issues in the Lava-Jato investigation) don't have money to fix it, nor are potential "clients" (soccer teams) willing to contribute to fix it or to pay the amounts that are being charged to use it.
woliveirajr 10y ago
It was a good deal from 1950 up until the last world cup. The stadium had to go through a great change for the 2014 world cup, and some other reforms for the 2016 olympic games. The costs of it (including corruption) didn't pay off and now the stadium is a completely mess.

santialbo 10y ago

I like to think that Barcelona is a good example of how Olympic Games should impact a city. Growth was controlled and it allowed for regeneration of some shady parts of the city. They didn't build crazy venues and the ones they did build are still in use today 25 years later.

eloycoto 10y ago
I fully agree with this. Barcelona is one of the best examples as for how the Olympic games can help. London is a great example, but in London is easy to use the large venues. Barcelona was more challenging and they made well.
- jowiar 10y ago
  I think a better way to phrase it is "Barcelona is THE example". It's sort of like citing a unicorn when deciding to start a company -- sure, there's upside potential, but it's a whole lot less likely than you think.
- intoverflow2 10y ago
  > London is a great example The area was regenerating itself just fine. As someone who lives in it long before the games. The olympics did nothing for the area and it's now partly going to be host to a cement factory, thanks Olympics.

roystonvassey 10y ago

'Average overrun for Games since 1960 is 156% in real terms' [1]. On the whole, costs of hosting Olympic Games is a net-negative for most cities. I think it isn't as popular as it once was in attracting tourists; soccer world cups are probably better for that. Given that this is the case, they should just fix one host city/country and host the Olympics only there. It will save unnecessary expenses, especially for developing nations such as Brazil. EDIT: Added source here [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_the_Olympic_Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_the_Olympic_Games

Joakal 10y ago
Politicians talk of lasting legacy but a lot of studies pretty much showed that no one wants to hang around once the Olympics is over. So, to recover the cost, maybe they need to host a really long Olympics?

saalweachter 10y ago

Would it negatively impact the Olympics if we stopped rotating them at this point? I mean, besides the IOC missing out on the opportunity compete with FIFA on graft? Let's just locate the Olympics in a permanent facility -- Greece, if they'll have them, for tradition. I think between "not rebuilding everything from scratch every four years" and the expectation of recurring events, the single host country could both run the games more efficiently and it would benefit the economy a lot more -- sure, it'd only benefit the one host country, but it would be going from "not benefiting a lot host countries (who go over-budget and never make back the money on tourism)" to "actually benefiting one host country". Let the IOC auction off the opening show if you want to give one country a chance to show off every four years.

pmarreck 10y ago
You could do that or you could just keep it at the same facility for, say, 20 years and THEN move it. So a country could get a 20-year economic boost (hopefully, at least long-term) and at least re-use the facilities a few times
- sandworm101 10y ago
  I think any boom would be short lived. The travel novelty would grow thin. The repeated use of the same facilities would also impact the sports. More fundimental is the question of any boom. London didnt see much, with some shops downtown instead seeing marked reductions. Vancouver barely broke even. China didnt do it for the money. And the less said about Sochi's costs the better.
  - intoverflow2 10y ago
    > London didnt see much Part of it is on the verge of being converted into a cement factory (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/11/olympic-park-london-plan-cement-concrete-plants-causes-uproar https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/11/olympic-park...) Honestly believe a world without the Olympic games is a better world, if London can't find much use for them and Rio is already letting them fall into disrepair. What on earth is the point in this.

sizzzzlerz 10y ago

It seems to me that the countries that maintained their Olympic facilities (England, Australia, US, Norway, Germany, China) all tilt to the wealthier end of the spectrum. Conversely, the poorer ones, Brazil and Greece, really couldn't afford hosting the games in the first place, let alone maintaining the venues afterwards. These days, its the wealthier countries that turn down the offer to host because of the costs while the poorer ones, often led by corrupt and bankrupt governments, are awarded the "honor" resulting into even deeper poverty for their people and short-term glorification of the government.

braythwayt 10y ago
This rings true with me, and I’ll highlight your phrase "corrupt and bankrupt governments.” I’d bet that the amount of waste and abandonment is in inverse proportion to the democracy score of the host country. The more democratic the country, the more likely they are to either reject the Olympic outright, or manage the investment effectively.
chiph 10y ago
Even in the US, cities are catching on that hosting an Olympics is likely a money-losing event, and they'll be saddled with poorly-built large facilities afterwards (why build well when you can build fast?). Permanent facilities, perhaps two or four per continent (for winter & summer games, and two have two host countries), would likely be a good answer.
- omegaham 10y ago
  In the US at least, this is offset by the fact that large metropolitan areas have excellent D1 college facilities along with multi-use professional sports stadiums. More importantly, those facilities are already being used and will be used in the future. As far as I can tell, the biggest hassle for American cities is traffic. All of the facilities are there, but putting them into use all at once with tens of thousands of foreign tourists would be an utter nightmare, especially with American reliance on cars and lack of public transportation options.

grabcocque 10y ago

This is an entirely unfair representation of the current state of Olympic venues in London. The Olympic stadium is used by West Ham Football Club every week for league and championship football. The Olympic village has been converted into state of the art affordable housing set in a gorgeous new green space. The swimming and diving and velodrome facilities are state of the art, oversubscribed, and at the forefront of creating a new generation of athletes. I myself am having Kayaking lessons at the London White Water centre Olympic course. Of course other major Olympic venues predated the bid and have continued to be in continuous use. Wimbledon, Wembley, the Excel, the O2, Eton Dorney... London has not simply "abandoned" anything, and to pretend otherwise is dishonest.

timr 10y ago
The photos, and most of the text, are about venues other than London. London is called out as an example of good olympic development, not bad.
- deleted 10y ago
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jads 10y ago
I think you may have skimmed the article a bit too quick: >London is novel among recent Olympic hosts in that its plan for the Olympics was focused primarily on what would happen after the games.

prodikl 10y ago

Living in Seoul, I played hockey at the olympic stadium there. There are regular baseball games and the entire area is very developed.

marcosdumay 10y ago

Rio is a bad place to look at. The place is broken for the same reason its last 3 governors are on jail (and older ones have been there), not because it hosted the Olympics last year. I don't think the ROI was positive, but I also don't think that level of abandonment will last.

StavrosK 10y ago
Hey, at least they're in jail.
- marcosdumay 10y ago
  Yep. I do personally have the opinion that the World Cup and Olympics were worth much more than their cost just by the fact that they bankrupted every kind of government here and pressed the people into revolting. I estimate they were the hightest ROI project our government ever had when considered that indirect gain.
  - StavrosK 10y ago
    I'd agree with you, I wish lots of our corrupt officials went to jail, but I'm afraid it's not happening...
    - deleted 10y ago
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    - marcosdumay 10y ago
      Well, our most important of our corrupts are still free, and nobody is certain if they are ever going into jail (what is already a huge improvement). The good part is that it takes an entire mafia to run a country. I doubt its heads alone are powerful enough.
      - personlurking 10y ago
        Well, it (Lava Jato) still hasn't reached the Judicial, plus Pezão is in hot water and Lula possibly will make a 2018 return. With all the people taken out of poverty in the early 2000s having returned to it, perhaps people will somehow want Lula back....if not, it could be Bolsonaro following Temer. So much going on.

praptak 10y ago

Big sport events are a huge scam. The corrupt organizations that have the rights keep money from ads, tickets and bribes, sometimes even requiring changes to the local law to protect their revenue. The supposed benefit for the host is that they can keep the infrastructure, paid by their own money. How generous! Fortunately the public opinion has generally recognized this fact and there are protests against organizers. I for one, am proud that we told the fuckers to GTFO of Kraków.

sandworm101 10y ago

Glad to see Vancouver doesnt show in any of these articles. It can be done well enough. Nobody seems to have any great complaints about those games (2010). The facilities are still in regular use ... which one would expect of a winter games in canada.

schwap 10y ago
The facilities from the '88 games (Calgary) are similarly still actively used for training and by the public. edit: '88 not '86
- cbowal 10y ago
  The Olympics were held in Calgary in 1988.
  - schwap 10y ago
    Yep, absolutely correct (d'oh).

ryderfast 10y ago

Why not just have one venue, but have different hosts organise the opening ceremony? Stick one large venue on an island somewhere, and then hand the responsibility of running it to a different nation each time.

Animats 10y ago

There were articles like that before the Rio games. The Beijing facilities, which were in a city that could use big sports facilities, are now mostly abandoned.[1] The big "birds nest" stadium now has an ice rink in it, but the huge grandstands are unused. London is doing OK with their leftover facilities.[2] The ones that aren't near a large city, such as Sochi, are abandoned. [1] http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ghosts-of-olympics-past?articleId=USRTR30UOB http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ghosts-of-olympics-past?... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/london-olympic-legacy-three-years-on-2012-games https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/...

mixmastamyk 10y ago

I had hoped for more investment in sports in Brazil as a result of the games, and indeed the transportation improvements in/out of Barra are incredible. But unfortunately, the govt of Rio is now totally broke and on the brink of failure. To put it into perspective, in much of the country they have stopped paying their police officers a salary. ((boggle)) Not the safest city in the first place, and maintenance was never a strong suit of Brazil. So the stadiums are just a symptom. Did they move the futebol games to Engenhao or something? Why would Maracana be abandoned? Where are they playing all the games that still need to be played? It would make sense to rotate them to keep the stadiums used at least part of the month. I'm trying to think of a way to maintain them and provide sports activities for kids. Normally, I dislike the branding of stadiums, but perhaps a corporate sponsorship of each stadium is a solution, while the govt should focus on its citizens.

personlurking 10y ago
Brasília made their WC stadium into a bus parking lot, IIRC. Recife built their WC stadium, the Arena Pernambuco, in a neighboring city, thinking it'd be a good way to build inland and incentivize development, but I'm pretty sure that has not happened. People would have to basically take the bus an hour or more to get there, and with 500 assaults on Recife buses in 2017 alone, it's a bit hard to do so. A light certainly went out in Maracanã when they removed the "geral" (cheap seats for the working class) in 2005, long before the WC or OG.

a3n 10y ago

Any local government or ngo that proposes to its local citizens that it should host an Olympics should immediately be investigated for corruption. (Tongue barely in cheek.)

sly010 10y ago

As the article also mentions, London spent a lot of it's olympic preparations thinking about what will happen to all the building and materials after the games. I was in design school at the time and we all submitted proposals for reusable architecture, etc. There was so much idealism, we all assumed things will be turned into sculptures or street furniture and the olympic park will itself will become an open site where people will hang out, etc. I wasn't in London for the games, but planned to go back to see the park after. When I got there a month after the Olympics, it was all abandoned, closed, fenced around and all you could see is giant empty parking lots. If they did any recycling I didn't see any of it.

mikeweiss 10y ago

Maracana Stadium was not built for the Olympics, it was just used as a venue. The stadium was built in 1950...

65827 10y ago

Really proud to be able to say I voted against hosting the olympics in Colorado a lifetime ago, seems like we are always a bit ahead of the times.

joeframbach 10y ago
The Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center is excellent, though!