Okay, for those of you who don't like to read, the short answer is: absolutely. The Olympic games are the pinnacle of sport for athletes around the world and in some sports like gymnastics, swimming, or track they are the only chance for the best at their sport to gain world wide recognition. I have spent the last 8 days glued to the T.V. absolutely bursting with national pride watching our best athletes succeed at the highest level. The Olympics are a chance to showcase your country and athletes to the world and put yourselves on the map. They are a chance to change lives forever. I still have memories as a 5 year old in Salt Lake City, Utah watching the biggest sporting event in the world take place in my back yard.
However, the games we are watching on television do not just appear out of thin air.
The Olympics are an investment. An infrastructural mountain for countries to climb that often times leaves host cities worse off than before. If you ask a Greek today if they could go back and rethink hosting the 2004 games, I'm sure their answer would be a quick yes. Greece spent an estimated $11 billion on the 2004 Athens games. A bill that taxpayers footed almost 78% of.
Soon after the 2004 games, Greece announced to the euro zone that their public debt and deficit figures would be much worse than expected due in part to the money spent on hosting the Olympic games. What happened in the following years is a debt crisis the whole world is familiar with. A decade later, Greece was 320 billion Euros in debt with a 177% debt to GDP ratio and a 27% unemployment rate that left the country spiraling further and further down into a pit of financial despair.
Sure, the Olympic games weren't the only cause of Greece's financial troubles, but they definitely didn't help. The $11 billion investment in Olympic parks and metro systems didn't quite turn into the capital generator promised that it was made out to be to Greek citizens. Most facilities built with the taxpayers investment sit in ruins with a 2 kilometer seafront promenade that linked three stadiums together now being used as a dumping ground for rubble and trash. 21 out of the 22 venues built for the games now sit unused (and the one being used is now a parking garage).
Estimates are just beginning for the Rio games but some say the total could reach $20 billion. This all while as the New York Times reports, "Rio is all but bankrupt. Teachers have gone months without pay, retirees are not receiving pension checks and University professors are left to mop floors and empty out garbage cans". Oh yeah, and Ryan Lochte one of the greatest U.S. swimmers of all time was just robbed at gunpoint outside of the Olympic Village.
The Olympics are a fantastic sporting event that bring the world together. But, especially this year, the world is shielded from seeing the worst of the cities that host.
I love watching my country compete but I love more for the people of this world to be able to live beyond the constraints of violence and poverty. These Olympics will be dubbed a success but lets be honest, Brazil's priority is to its citizens. And they we're kicked to the curb for these games.
