Time to let Greece have the Olympics every time?

[blugnu]

Clearly this Olympics things is a farce. No-one can afford to host it anymore. There is much talk of 'legacy' (which will benefit the south disproportionately anyway) but there are more efficient ways to regenerate areas. The best any Olympics can hope for is to break even now.

Now, the Olympics originated in Greece, and they have all the infrastructure to hold a modern Olympics - they did so on 1996. And Lord alone knows they could do with the tourism.

So why not let Greece have them every year?

At a stroke you:

reduce the amount of lobbying and *cough* persuasive lobbying *cough* that gets done
have a use for all the stadiums in Greece
save countries wasting money on things they won't use again
give a boost to Greek tourism
have the Olympics in a standardised place so you can compare performances

and most importantly, we won't get a future Seb Coe telling us how great it is for us to have them and going hugely over a massive budget for them.

What do other PHers think?

[martin84]

I think due to the existance of the IOC alone we should disband the entire concept of the Olympics and it should never be held again for the rest of time.

[rxtx]

I've thought this for a long time. Make it all about the sport and countries getting together (again?)

[fido]

blugnu said:

So why not let Greece have them every year?

Because ze Germans would end up paying for it!

[ninja-lewis]

Because the IOC like getting free trips to bidding and host cities too much to permanently settle in Athens.

[blugnu]

ninja-lewis said:

Because the IOC like getting free trips to bidding and host cities too much to permanently settle in Athens.

Tough. In the words of Brian Potter "I want to moonwalk, son, but it ain't going to happen"

Olympics in Greece. IOC disbanded. Perfect.

[ninja-lewis]

blugnu said:

Tough. In the words of Brian Potter "I want to moonwalk, son, but it ain't going to happen"

Olympics in Greece. IOC disbanded. Perfect.

I agree. Unfortunately turkeys don't vote for Christmas.

[TheD]

ninja-lewis said:

I agree. Unfortunately turkeys don't vote for Christmas.

This is as close to the truth you'll get. Free loading IOC members would never give up their spoilt lifstyle for no son of a bh

[72EuropaTC]

I went to Athens regularly for about 18 months a few months ago. Yes much of the infrastructure is still there - roads, stadia etc. A friend there said that a fair number of the venues have fallen into disuse. Really hope that doesn't happen here.

[FourWheelDrift]

blugnu said:

Now, the Olympics originated in Greece, and they have all the infrastructure to hold a modern Olympics - they did so on 1996. And Lord alone knows they could do with the tourism.

The Ancient Olympics.

The origins of the modern Olympics are a little closer to home - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenlock_Olympian_Soci...

[rudecherub]

FourWheelDrift said:

The Ancient Olympics.

The origins of the modern Olympics are a little closer to home - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenlock_Olympian_Soci...

As true as that is, they are still pissy about the Marbles Sir Elgin saved from been turned into fertilizer.

[XCP]

ninja-lewis said:

Because the IOC like getting free trips to bidding and host cities too much to permanently settle in Athens.

But they could still do that with the winter games. I think the Athens Idea is a good one.

[jamesson]

blugnu said:

they did so on 1996.

Atlanta hosted the games in 1996. Athens was 2004.

[rudecherub]

Parnassos Ski Center, the largest cosmopolitan snow-capped resort in Greece,

[uk66fastback]

Why don't you go the whole hog and rotate it between Greece, Spain (Barcelona 1992) and Italy (Rome 1960)?

They're the countries in economic trouble ...

[Ken Sington]

The Olympics is supposedly a global event but only a very small percentage of the world's population get to watch it live, so it is mostly seen on TV. As a TV event, it would therefore make sense, imho anyway, to rotate events between the world's best stadiums and facilities, thus saving the huge investments that need to be made by whichever country has drawn the short straw to hold it. The only reason that it continues as a one location event is so that a) IOC members get to receive lots of little brown envelopes (allegedly)and have lots of jollies and b) 5000 or so athletes get to bang each other senseless for a fortnight.

[Haggleburyfinius]

It would be a great idea if the Olympics made money.

It's like making the poorest kid in the class hold everyone's birthday parties!

[blugnu]

Haggleburyfinius said:

It would be a great idea if the Olympics made money.

It's like making the poorest kid in the class hold everyone's birthday parties!

but if they didn't have to build everything from scratch every time. it would make money. I don't suppose WImbledon would make much if they had to built the tennis courts every year!

[Derek Smith]

fido said:

blugnu said:

So why not let Greece have them every year?

Because ze Germans would end up paying for it!

You say that as if it is a bad thing.

[jogon]

I remember reading a while ago about us using Barcelona as an example of how to regenerate an area and make the most of it all.

I went there a few years ago and had a walk around the Olympic site and its like a bloody ghost town, the main stadium is crumbling down and paths all overgrown around it. The only thing that still looked in use was the pool and that building was in dire need for a lick of paint. Turned out to be a waste of an afternoon.