As the world turns its attention to Brazil and Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 summer Olympics, the international community starts to see potential issues with this year’s host city. This is no new thing, sadly enough, as hosting the Olympics has become less about athletic competition and more about a country's wealth and power. Since the Olympics were brought back in 1896, the world has swooned over the athletic competition every 4 years. With a more innocent, and basic beginning, the Olympics has since ballooned into a massive event that now occurs every 2 years with the alternating summer and winter variety. It is no longer about the athletes, and more a political statement about how well off the country is, and that it is worthy of tourism. So as we see Brazil and Rio prepare to join the charade, let’s take a look at why the games are hurting the host countries and are no longer worth it.
The biggest reason for the Olympics no longer being worth it is the cost as now it costs billions of dollars to prepare for the event. The most recent Olympic games in Sochi Russia cost over $51 billion, exceeding the record set by the 2008 Beijing Olympics which cost $44 billion. While the thought is that by investing in these cities they will intern do better business, pick up in tourism, and even be able to host these events again. However, in reality, most of the facilities end up becoming dilapidated from not being used, and the countries end up losing money overall. While many countries have boasted meager profits, many end up with piles of debt like the estimated $15 billion debt Greece had to pay for the 2004 summer Olympics in Athens. The numbers for the Rio Olympics are shrouded with uncertainty amidst corruption in the government and among contractors, however, the only solid figure would be the $12 billion tax contribution that will be used. Brazil should have seen the signs before signing up to host that the chances of making any money off of the games are slim to none.
The games also hurt the people and the reputation of the country. China and Russia were both accused of removing people from the host cities forcefully, and throwing homeless people in jail to make the streets look cleaner. Also, with all the eyes on the country during the events, political tensions arise as issues are brought up about how the country runs or has run in the past. Events like the Munich massacre in 1972 where Palestinian rebels held several Israeli athletes’ hostage and eventually killed them on the international stage. In 1980, the US boycotted the Moscow games due to the cold war which created tensions among the international community. Most recently we saw in Sochi protests about Russian laws against homosexuals that brought pressure onto the government from the international community. This will surely happen in Rio with the amount of violent crimes and robberies that occur in the city and surrounding areas every day, as well as the already reported corruption in funding the games. These games can only draw poor publicity to the city.
While I still remain optimistic for the upcoming games due to the fact that the World Cup held in Brazil went better than most expected, I still fear the grandeur of the games and all the pressure with it could damage the country. With the cost of the games still inflating year by year, I have a hunch that we could be on the cusp of bursting a large bubble that could see an end to the games. This bubble could burst with issues arising at the Rio games be it little revenue, protests with people, a spike in crime that could deter and frighten the international community, or unforeseen issues that could help culminate into a disaster. While I do not wish to see the sporting event go away, nor do I want to see anything bad occur during these upcoming games, I still fear that the games have become too much to handle and are just not worth it. I would rather see them go away before any major issues arise. Until then the world will just have to keep their eyes on the Rio 2016 games.
