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Post-Olympic Abandonment

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Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#61

Post by giarc »

theluketaylor wrote: post #44
bryanlarsen wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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 venu…

Calgarian here. The bobsled is still in use but the large ski jump is now just a zip line course. Ski jumpers improved to the point where they could "out jump" the hill. That would be likely the only large facility that would need to be completely rebuilt if we were to host again.

- The Oval still hosts world cup speed skating. - Canome still has a world class x-country ski facility - Lake Louise still hosts world cup downhill (although it was not used during the 88 games). - We have an NHL sized arena, although there is work to build a new one. - MacMahon stadium could still host an opening ceremonies - Bobsleigh still hosts world cup bobsleigh, skeleton and luge - Calgary Olympic Park holds world cup aerials, moguls, snowboarding half pipe etc

The biggest change from 88 is the size of the crowds. The city would likely need a few more hotel rooms to house athletes and visitors, but that's easy. Our new international terminal just opened so we could handle the increased capacity.

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#62

Post by chiph »

sizzzzlerz wrote: post #45

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 w…

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.

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#63

Post by Shivetya »

saalweachter wrote: post #36

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 r…

Some cities did well with the Olympics because they had viable uses for the larger facilities in place before the game construction started. Atlanta spun off the stadium and dorms without issue.

These events while bid on under the guise of improving the local economy or bringing pride to a host city and nation have for the longest time merely existed as puff pieces for the politicians involved.

Green obviously cannot handle both Winter and Summer but there are countries who could and even a round robin system could be employed. Perhaps vetting should require demonstrating how a major percentage of facilities will be used post Olympics to better the host city and nation?

IOC isn't the only issue, FIFA is just as bad if not worse and that is from abuse issues mostly

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#64

Post by jowiar »

eloycoto wrote: post #49
santialbo wrote: post #9

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.

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.

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.

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#65

Post by evan_ »

saalweachter wrote: post #36

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 r…

I love the idea of hosting in Greece with a "co-host" country that kicks in a bunch of money and gets to do the opening ceremony.

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#66

Post by omegaham »

chiph wrote: post #62
sizzzzlerz wrote: post #45

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 w…

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.

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.

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#67

Post by cannonpr »

saalweachter wrote: post #36

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 r…

Let's say that I have some direct experience, both with working within the Olympics games and with Greece. I don't honestly want that cesspool anywhere near Greece, the level of corruption and incompetence I witnessed by the olympic organisations and committees is staggering. The best thing you could do at this point is to stop the games and distribute the funds to healthier or new organisations.

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#68

Post by SegFaultx64 »

MomentarySanity wrote: post #37
lhopki01 wrote: post #4

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.

Lake Placid, NY still uses the Olympic venues. A lot of winter athletes train there.

And, fun fact, the Olympic village is now a prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Correctional_Instituti...

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#69

Post by revelation »

sizzzzlerz wrote: post #52
saalweachter wrote: post #36

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 r…

So Greece, for example, becomes responsible for the maintenance and updates to the facilities, which they obviously can't afford now? Having a single host country works only if all the participating countries chip in annually according to their GNP or some other measure of their financial worth. How, then, is that enforced? You can always exclude those countries who are in arrears but that only harms the athletes. Fo…

No, whoever received the billions in TV rights money pays for that. Obviously.

Re: Post-Olympic Abandonment

#70

Post by mhandley »

danpalmer wrote: post #22
lhopki01 wrote: post #4

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.

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 trai…

The facilities built for the 2012 Olympic sailing at Weymouth are now home of the National Sailing Academy, and are really well used. In fact I'll be there this weekend with my son along with about 200 other young sailors.

http://www.wpnsa.org.uk/

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