Olympic Ideals and Challenges

According to the official Olympic committee, the goal?of the?Olympic?Movement or Olympic Games is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the?Olympic?spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. Decision to host an Olympic Games is always a national pride. Done right, the event can transform a society and uplift the national spirit and national economic development, as were the case in 1964 Tokyo Olympic, 1988 Seoul Olympic and 2008 Beijing Olympic.?

However, Olympic Games often saddle the hosting countries with infrastructures which can not be easily maintained and effectively used after the games. I have had the opportunity to visit a few of the cities where the Olympic Games were held and attached in the end are some photos I took over the years with Olympic themes, including the Panathenaic Stadium where the first modern Olympic Games was held in 1896. It is a marvelous stadium and one would be in awe standing in the middle of the stadium. Yet the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was at least partially responsible for triggering the subsequent economic challenges Greece faced. During my trip to Atlanta this summer, the Olympic park in the middle of the city was indefinitely closed due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing, where the opening and closing ceremonies for 2008 Olympic Games were held, is rarely used for any events. Partly due to the financial burden, the hotly contested bidding process for hosting the summer games historically has lost some of the attraction it once had in recent years. Following the withdrawal of Budapest, Hamburg, and Rome, there were effectively two cities left bidding for the two Games in 2024 and 2028. In July 2017, the IOC agreed to award the?2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously. Los Angeles agreed to bid for the 2028 Games, effectively ceding the 2024 Games to Paris.

Recognizing the criticisms for overbuilding, plus the waste and carbon footprint generated by hosting a mega international event such as Olympics, the ongoing Beijing Winter Olympic made an interesting attempt of going one step further in leveraging existing venues including a decommissioned steel mill, Capital Steel site, which was one of the largest steel mills in China until being shut down in 2005. After the Games, the platform will be kept as a permanent facility to showcase a combination of urban industrial heritage and Olympic culture.

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The?1996 Summer Olympics, commonly referred to as the?Centennial Olympic Games was held in Atlanta. Here is the entrance to the Olympic park.

Sculpture installed at the entrance of the Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the modern games.

Here is a sand sculpture at the world famous Copacabana beach before the 2016 Summer Games at Rio, Brazil.

Here is a photo taken at the National Speed Skating Oval, also known as the 'Ice Ribbon', in Beijing during the construction stage. It is the venue for speed skating events for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The 2014 Winter Olympics were the most?expensive games in the history of the Olympics. While originally budgeted at?$12 billion, major cost overruns caused this figure to expand to US$51?billion. The site became a resort with some beautiful facilities along the Mzymta River but the cost in maintaining and operating those facilities must be an enormous burden.

Here is a photo of an official Olympic flag with the iconic Athens Acropolis in the background.

Here is a photo I took when I was attending a Table Tennis Game at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

A sculpture near the Olympic Park in Beijing where the 2008 summer games were held.

This is a bridge in Tokyo built with markers commemorating the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. Japanese name for the bridge literally means Five Ring Bridge (五輪橋) while the English name is Olympic Bridge.

The?Temple of Olympian Zeus?is a former colossal temple at the center of the Greek?capital Athens. It was dedicated to "Olympian"?Zeus, a name originating from his position as head of the?Olympian Gods.

The Panathenaic Stadium?is a multi-purpose stadium in Athens, the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. The stadium was built on the site of a simple racecourse by the Athenian statesman?Lycurgus around 330?BC, primarily for the?Panathenaic Games. After being excavated and refurbished in 1869, it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the?first modern Olympics in 1896.

Here is a display area of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado where all the official medal designs are displayed.

Further Reading: Bent Flyvbjerg, Six steps to better Olympic games