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Rio 2016 Olympic Venues Just 6 Months After The Olympics
Summer is over for Brazil’s ‘marvelous city’. In a series of eerie and depressing new photos released last week, the 2016 Summer Olympic venues in Rio de Janeiro are seen filthy and deserted just 6 months after the end of the games, including the legendary Maracana Stadium. In a city that hoped desperately to be lifted out of poverty and debt by making back the money they spent, these are the ruins of a shattered dream.
Rio 2016 was boiled in scandal before it had even began, including a Zika virus outbreak, reports of doping by Russian athletes, and the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff due to corruption. The second largest city in Brazil is millions of dollars in debt with international creditors, and now also owes over 900 thousand dollars to a local energy company.
Murky pools, worn terrain, and vandalisation can be found all over the Olympic park. Seats have been torn from the once-iconic arena. The future of these shockingly neglected buildings remains uncertain, but they’re unlikely to be a high priority among Rio’s long list of coming challenges.
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Antoine Gagnon 8 years ago
This, Beijin and Sotchi are very good examples why the olympic comitee need to review what qualifies a city for the Olympic games.. New installations should be forbiden and they should encourage investement in already existixing venues. There should be rules that will require cities and goverment to redistribute the goods and have a strong post-olympic plan for the use of the installations.. For example, Guiness World Record requires all food record attempts to have a plan to not waste teh food otherwise the record cannot be accepted.
LizzyM 8 years ago
New installations are required by the IOC with regards to safety standards. From the hosts perspective, these new installations are a good way to showcase prestige and architecture - it's not about sports but about showing off to the world for a few weeks
Load More Replies...
MrPositive 8 years ago
Well we all knew this was gonna happen. If you don't have a post plan for these venues, you are obviously going to be screwed. You MUST have a post Olympics plan!
Christian Trout 8 years ago
The only plan that works is a pre-Olympics plan - and that plan is "Do not host the Olympics." It never does anything positive for the host city. The Olympics talk about equality and peace between peoples, but promotes human rights abuse to meet its insane standards. Hypocrites to the highest degree. F**k the Olympics.
Load More Replies...
.gas. 8 years ago
I never understood why Olympic venues can't be converted into community areas. Even if you charge admission, at least they are being used!
Kim Lee 8 years ago
Here in Los Angeles, the venues that were used for the Olympics decades ago are being used by the public for recreation, concerts, and now temp-hosting one of our football teams. If we get the Games again in 2024, we already have plans for the buildings left behind.
Load More Replies...
Brigitta Zsiros 8 years ago
And Hungarian government wants Budapest 2024 while half of the country can barely afford to eat at the end of the month (this is only the tip of the iceberg) #nolimpia
Efe Sezer 8 years ago
''half of the country can barely afford to eat at the end of the month'' Are you serious when saying that? I am turkish so i don't know much about Hungary but i didn't know things were so bad in an European country. It's interesting.
Load More Replies...
Ali El Sheikh Ali 8 years ago
This is really sad. Couldn't we provide access to the the local populations? So that they could both, maintain and profit from such investments? I hope someone will overcome these challenges. Brazil, we beleive in you!
Betty Osthoff 8 years ago
One of the articles said the local football (i.e. Soccer) clubs had put a proposal together for at least the football field, never heard what happened with that.
Load More Replies...
Bunzilla 8 years ago
I thought the whole idea behind this was to use the venues afterwards for training and recreation? I know that the venues in Calgary have been used extensively for these purposes. I'm not sure about the one in Whistler. (Canadian here) Everyone in Vancouver was certainly glad for the new Sky-Train line. There were many who whined and complained it would never get used, but the first day of operation, it got so much use that they had to put in additional trains. They then sold the apartments from the Olympic Village as regular apartments after. For sure have to have a plan. But, yeah, this is depressing : / Some of those look like they've been abandoned for 10 years!
Yuzz zzuY 8 years ago
The IOC should really consider semi-permanent fixtures for the summer olympics and for the winter olympics. Is there really a need to rebuild half of the ventures every single edition? There are plenty of abandoned former sport complexes around the world, often used only once. They should just decide on a location on every continent and have different host countries provide for the cost every cycle. It shouldn't be too difficult to reuse the complexes for yearly sport competitions either and for the regional sport events. Of course deciding where to build these complexes and the prestige that comes with it, is one the IOC will have to discuss.
Mario Naopergunte 8 years ago
As a Brazilian I must say ... Here in BRASIL corruption speaks louder than ordinary citizens. Do not think it was "invested" money in these works because a lot of money went into the pocket of business builders and politicians in these unnecessary works of the World Cup and the Olympics. The country suffers and politicians such as rats devour our money every day. All these unnecessary and useless works were overpriced, suffered delays, many were made incomplete and all defects were hidden and made up. It is even shameful to say that "I am Brazilian" ... There is no way to have patriotism with so much corruption and unpunished crime here.
Antoine Gagnon 8 years ago
This, Beijin and Sotchi are very good examples why the olympic comitee need to review what qualifies a city for the Olympic games.. New installations should be forbiden and they should encourage investement in already existixing venues. There should be rules that will require cities and goverment to redistribute the goods and have a strong post-olympic plan for the use of the installations.. For example, Guiness World Record requires all food record attempts to have a plan to not waste teh food otherwise the record cannot be accepted.
LizzyM 8 years ago
New installations are required by the IOC with regards to safety standards. From the hosts perspective, these new installations are a good way to showcase prestige and architecture - it's not about sports but about showing off to the world for a few weeks
Load More Replies... MrPositive 8 years ago
Well we all knew this was gonna happen. If you don't have a post plan for these venues, you are obviously going to be screwed. You MUST have a post Olympics plan!
Christian Trout 8 years ago
The only plan that works is a pre-Olympics plan - and that plan is "Do not host the Olympics." It never does anything positive for the host city. The Olympics talk about equality and peace between peoples, but promotes human rights abuse to meet its insane standards. Hypocrites to the highest degree. F**k the Olympics.
Load More Replies... .gas. 8 years ago
I never understood why Olympic venues can't be converted into community areas. Even if you charge admission, at least they are being used!
Kim Lee 8 years ago
Here in Los Angeles, the venues that were used for the Olympics decades ago are being used by the public for recreation, concerts, and now temp-hosting one of our football teams. If we get the Games again in 2024, we already have plans for the buildings left behind.
Load More Replies... Brigitta Zsiros 8 years ago
And Hungarian government wants Budapest 2024 while half of the country can barely afford to eat at the end of the month (this is only the tip of the iceberg) #nolimpia
Efe Sezer 8 years ago
''half of the country can barely afford to eat at the end of the month'' Are you serious when saying that? I am turkish so i don't know much about Hungary but i didn't know things were so bad in an European country. It's interesting.
Load More Replies... Ali El Sheikh Ali 8 years ago
This is really sad. Couldn't we provide access to the the local populations? So that they could both, maintain and profit from such investments? I hope someone will overcome these challenges. Brazil, we beleive in you!
Betty Osthoff 8 years ago
One of the articles said the local football (i.e. Soccer) clubs had put a proposal together for at least the football field, never heard what happened with that.
Load More Replies... Bunzilla 8 years ago
I thought the whole idea behind this was to use the venues afterwards for training and recreation? I know that the venues in Calgary have been used extensively for these purposes. I'm not sure about the one in Whistler. (Canadian here) Everyone in Vancouver was certainly glad for the new Sky-Train line. There were many who whined and complained it would never get used, but the first day of operation, it got so much use that they had to put in additional trains. They then sold the apartments from the Olympic Village as regular apartments after. For sure have to have a plan. But, yeah, this is depressing : / Some of those look like they've been abandoned for 10 years!
Yuzz zzuY 8 years ago
The IOC should really consider semi-permanent fixtures for the summer olympics and for the winter olympics. Is there really a need to rebuild half of the ventures every single edition? There are plenty of abandoned former sport complexes around the world, often used only once. They should just decide on a location on every continent and have different host countries provide for the cost every cycle. It shouldn't be too difficult to reuse the complexes for yearly sport competitions either and for the regional sport events. Of course deciding where to build these complexes and the prestige that comes with it, is one the IOC will have to discuss.
Mario Naopergunte 8 years ago
As a Brazilian I must say ... Here in BRASIL corruption speaks louder than ordinary citizens. Do not think it was "invested" money in these works because a lot of money went into the pocket of business builders and politicians in these unnecessary works of the World Cup and the Olympics. The country suffers and politicians such as rats devour our money every day. All these unnecessary and useless works were overpriced, suffered delays, many were made incomplete and all defects were hidden and made up. It is even shameful to say that "I am Brazilian" ... There is no way to have patriotism with so much corruption and unpunished crime here.
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