Should the Olympics be abolished?

[Zelenius]

I'll never understand all the excitement and hype surrounding the Olympics. The statement "The Olympics have become a bloated, gaudy, over-hyped anachronism." from "Should We Abolish the Olympics?" rings true to me.

I really do not understand the point of bringing all these different sporting events together, spending billions of dollars on facilities to host them - all of them have their own international competitions outside of the Olympics anyway. The idea that the Olympics help promote international harmony and understanding doesn't appear to be true. It may even bring about the opposite, especially with all the allegations about drug use and cheating.

Other arguments in favor of the Olympics are that it boosts the economy of the host city. But this only appears to be true for the real estate, hotel, restaurant and transportation industries, while the tax-payers are left holding the bag in most cases. The effects are at best temporary. So many expensive stadiums built by host cities for the Olympics remain empty and unused. Look at Montreal for example.

Some also argue that the Olympics brings "prestige" to the host city and country, and this may in turn boost the economy long term, with Greece being a very good example of this. Whatever this is, this "prestige" effect doesn't last very long. Consider the case of Athens Greece.

The idea of child athletes sacrificing their childhood for "national glory" is also a deeply disturbing idea to me. All participating countries are guilty of this, with China being among the worst cases. I find the very idea of "national glory" repugnant. I thought nationalism was mostly a thing of the past, why try to revive it through sport? And I thought it was supposed to be about international "harmony", not jingoism. And above all, these are just games, the athletes aren't doing anything that helps improve the lives of their fellow countrymen by engaging in athletic competitions.

As if things weren't bad enough, all too many people have to be displaced in the host city to make way for the Olympic Village. The displaced people are often poor minorities. And who doesn't love living in a police state? The Olympic village is according to many sources, a 2 week long orgie.

Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-sport or anti-competition. I am very athletic but consider the Olympics to be a monstrous boondoggle. It's like a conspiracy between the hotel/tourism industry, the Olympic Committee, Olympic sponsors and politicians. I hope my city never hosts them. If the Olympics were abolished, I think it would be a good thing. And all the various athletic competitions in those sports will continue, just not in Olympic venues.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

Nah.

I don't like most of the sports, but it's a national-honor thing and a lot of nations enjoy the prestige of sending competitors. The whole world, potentially, comes together in the spirit of "We're better than you", but also, "We're all part of the same thing"

 

[MG1962]

Have you ever been to an Olympic city while the games are being held?

 

[AvalonXQ]

I have never agreed with public funds being spent on this stuff. Cities should not build sports stadiums on the public dime, either to attract some sports team or to host some important spectacle.

 

[Steve]

How could the Olympics be "abolished"? Who would abolish them? What would be the mechanism for this? The only way for the Olympics to end is if enough significant countries decided to stop participating and interest dwindles to an insignificant level.

 

[The Don]

I have never agreed with public funds being spent on this stuff. Cities should not build sports stadiums on the public dime, either to attract some sports team or to host some important spectacle.

I disagree. The Commonwealth Games in Manchester is IMO an excellent example of how an international sports contest provided the catalyst for enhancing the sporting facilities for the region and the country.

The velodrome in particular is now the training base for the most successful track cycling team in the world.

 

[DuvalHMFIC]

I have never agreed with public funds being spent on this stuff. Cities should not build sports stadiums on the public dime, either to attract some sports team or to host some important spectacle.

For the Olympics, which is only 2 weeks, this may be true. But if you look, most cities benefit financially on the whole, if they own a stadium. For instance here in Jacksonville, Florida, once we got a football team, we got a slew of new businesses that came here over the years, not to mention it breathed life into an otherwise dead downtown area. We have actually gained tax dollars by spending to upgrade our stadium. It's not just the NFL team that plays there, we also have the Florida-Georgia "world's largest outdoor cocktail party game" which brings in HUGE business for the whole week, as well as the Gator Bowl, that brings another 50,000 people to town for the week.

But for two weeks? Yeah, I have a hard time with cities like Montreal and Athens spending money to build stuff for the events. Sucks to say it, but this is why only the biggest cities that already have a multitude of arenas, stadiums, etc. should be getting the Olympics.

 

[AvalonXQ]

The Commonwealth Games in Manchester is IMO an excellent example of how an international sports contest provided the catalyst for enhancing the sporting facilities for the region and the country.

The velodrome in particular is now the training base for the most successful track cycling team in the world.

What's the public benefit of this?

 

[mikeyx]

For me it's the commercialism this year. It hs gone too far, that and the use of professional athletes. You have NBA stars in basket ball and the Williams sisters playing tennis.

Wasn't the intent supposed to be ameteur competition. Corporate greed ruins everything.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

What's the public benefit of this?

Inflow of cash to the local community?

 

[commandlinegamer]

For me it's the commercialism this year. It hs gone too far, that and the use of professional athletes. You have NBA stars in basket ball and the Williams sisters playing tennis.

Wasn't the intent supposed to be ameteur competition. Corporate greed ruins everything.

And how does the amateur pay for training facilities, coaching, etc. Should it just be the preserve of the idle rich?

 

[Zelenius]

Have you ever been to an Olympic city while the games are being held?

No. And my home city was a serious contender to host them a few years ago, and I was, like so many other natives strongly opposed to it.

 

[paiute]

I'll never understand all the excitement and hype surrounding the Olympics.

When cities quit bidding to host them, the games will stop.

 

[mikeyx]

And how does the amateur pay for training facilities, coaching, etc. Should it just be the preserve of the idle rich?

I'm referring to it's original intent, the NBA doesnt need to play in the olympics.

 

[AvalonXQ]

For the Olympics, which is only 2 weeks, this may be true. But if you look, most cities benefit financially on the whole, if they own a stadium.

If that's true, then shouldn't there be sufficient financial backers to build a stadium without having to use tax dollars?

I just don't see government's proper role as forcing its citizens to invest in these things.

 

[MG1962]

No. And my home city was a serious contender to host them a few years ago, and I was, like so many other natives strongly opposed to it.

You should probably try it some time. It is an interesting experience. It is easy to demonize enemies when they are nameless faceless masses. That changes when you meet them face to face, share a drink, see them smile.

The sport at the Olympics is merely an excuse. An excuse to bring millions of people from all over the world together. Friendships, memories and opinions are forged during those times. Taken back to individual nations and expressed to wider audiences.

The Olympics is about celebrating humanity. It is about bringing us together celebrating what we have in common, and for a few short weeks distracting us from all that divides us.

 

[MG1962]

When cities quit bidding to host them, the games will stop.

In 1948 and 1984 there were no bid cities. Both Olympics were still successfully held

 

[Meadmaker]

For me it's the commercialism this year. It hs gone too far, that and the use of professional athletes. You have NBA stars in basket ball and the Williams sisters playing tennis.

Wasn't the intent supposed to be ameteur competition. Corporate greed ruins everything.

The Olympics were amateur only until a couple of decades ago. (1992, I think.)

They switched for a couple of reasons. First, the definition of "amateur" was problematic. Is a person getting a full athletic scholarship really an amateur? The Soviet Union had an awful lot of athletes who were in the army. Their position in the army was to play hockey. In other words, they were full time professional athletes, whose official job was something else.

Second, everyone understood that you just couldn't achieve peak performance without full time training, and you couldn't do that without being a professional.

Another thing to consider is the reason that it was set up for amateurs in the first place. The party line was that they wanted people who were competing purely for the love of the sport, unsullied by the filthy lucre of professional competition. However, if you go back to 1896 and look at the sporting scene as it existed back then, who were the professionals, and who were the amateurs? The professionals were ring boxers and exhibition players who travelled from town to town challenging the local competition for money. They were also poor people. The amateur athletes were young European aristocrats who had no need for jobs. The old English and French aristocrats didn't relish the idea of having their kids get their butts kicked by a bunch of travelling coal miners' kids.

So, I kind of miss the amateur days, when all the athletes were young college students, but all things considered, the whole "amateur" thing was always a bit of a sham. I don't think the Olympics have been made worse just because professionals play.


And no, the Olympics should not be abolished.

 

[TellyKNeasuss]

The Olympics had meaning in the days before international travel became easy, an era when athletes from different countries rarely competed against each other. But in our modern world, international competitions are an every day thing. We have a world cup ski circuit, which most skiers consider to be more important than the Olympics. We have an international track and field circuit. Gymnasts and figure skaters have official world championships tournaments every year, plus other international competitions. Soccer has its World Cup, which is far more prestigious than the Olympics. Basketball and ice hockey even have world championship tournaments.

There are only a few sports, mostly sports that few spectators pay attention to and therefore don't provide sufficient revenue to make international competitions economically viable, in which winning in the Olympics is considered to be winning the championship.

Probably the main beneficiaries are the athletes, who get to live for a few weeks in a sheltered, gender-integrated village. I've heard reliable reports of athletes bringing garbage bags full of condoms so that none of their fellow athletes would ever find themselves without one.

 

[Polaris]

The Olympics is about celebrating humanity. It is about bringing us together celebrating what we have in common, and for a few short weeks distracting us from all that divides us.

This ^^

Not everything has to be about the bottom line.