Bring The Olympic Games Home Permanently

Even before the noise and lights of the opening spectacle of the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro have died down many people are questioning whether the spiralling costs and ever expanding size of the games have dimmed their once lustrous reputation. The conclusion that more and more people seem to be reaching is that the once-fabled Olympic Games are no longer worth the cost and disruption. It is way past time for the International Olympic Committee to re-think the direction of the games.

 There is a simple, admittedly radical, solution to the increasing problem of finding a city willing and able to host the sports spectacular. Stop the ridiculous, very expensive competition among cities that can hardly afford a decent water system let alone the Olympic Games. Return the games to their original location and make Athens the permanent site for future summer Olympic Games. Why not? The venues are already there from the 2004 games. The Greeks have demonstrated they know how to run a big event. The money has already been spent. The infrastructure is in place. And Greece could use the guaranteed injection of significant funds every four years. Think about it.

 

Was it worth the cost?

Rio may have seemed like a brilliant, well deserved choice when awarded the games back in 2009. But in recent years Brazil has not only been in a downward economic and political trend, but is beset with the dangerous zika virus. In short, Brazil currently has many higher priorities than the Olympic Games that are irrelevant to the vast majority of Brazilians.

            Just look at the growth of the modern games. In the 1964 Tokyo summer games there were 163 events in 19 sports with 5,151 athletes. This year in Rio there are 306 events in 42 sports with 11,192 athletes competing. And as for the costs … the Saïd Business School at Oxford University analysed 30 summer and winter games and concluded that none of the games came within initial budget. The study, contested as one might expect by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), also concluded nearly half the games exceeded their cost estimates by more than 100%.

            The study also noted that sports-related costs (venues and the athletes’ village) amounted to $6.8 billion for the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing, $15 billion for the 2012 games in London, and dropping back to around $5 billion for the 2016 games. The sports-related costs for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia came in at an eye-popping $21.9 billion. That number ballooned to about $50 billion, when related infrastructure costs are included.

 

Skiers and costs hit new highs in Sochi

What is clear is that by any measure the sky-rocketing costs of the games are deterring many cities from even placing a bid. Boston, for example, pulled out of the bidding for the 2024 summer games when it became clear that the taxpayers of the city would be responsible for the inevitable cost overruns. Hamburg also pulled out following a referendum showing that the population did not want the games. The new mayor of Rome said that city, already €13 billion in debt, simply cannot afford the spectacle. That leaves Los Angeles, Paris and Budapest as the remaining possibilities.

 Four of the six cities that bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games later withdrew those bids, leaving the IOC with the choice of Beijing or Alma Ata, Kazakhstan. Beijing was the ‘lucky’ winner.

Oslo, Norway was the preferred choice for the 2022 winter games but withdrew because of lack of public support and annoyance at some of the IOC’s ludicrous demands such as free liquor for IOC members and a cocktail party with the King of Norway. This was too much for the sensible, egalitarian Norwegians. Furthermore, with historically low unemployment and excellent existing infrastructure Oslo didn’t need the games to improve things.

                              The time has come to rein in the games and stop them from becoming the athletic equivalent of the over-the-top Eurovision contest. The athletes have trained very hard for several years. Their sacrifices and nobility of effort should not be overshadowed by the circus atmosphere of organizers' problems with financing, construction, idiotic demands by for special privileges by IOC members, doping scandals, or variable international politics. And the people of the host city should not be left with very expensive white elephants that only deteriorate over time.

Time to return the Games to their roots

            I say again, bring the games home – permanently. There are plenty of international athletic competitions – World Cup of football, World Cup of rugby, tennis tournaments, world championships in almost all sports – that can be moved around to satisfy the egos of various host countries. But there is only one summer Olympic Games. And those games and the athletes should have the dignity of a permanent home -- where it all started and where all the preparations are in place.

Be Very, Very Careful What You Wish For

Citizens of Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul have just received some horrible news. According to the Associated Press those cities have been short-listed to host the 2020 Olympic games. If they value their municipal and national budgets along with their peace of mind the citizens of Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul should immediately follow Rome’s example and respectfully withdraw from this ridiculous contest.

The London Olympic Logo

Take my word for it. We live in London which in 2005 won the exceedingly dubious prize of hosting the Olympic Games this year. And we have been paying for it ever since. Transport, never one of London’s finer points, has become impossible. Unlike Paris, London does not have a system of grand, wide boulevards that can speed traffic along. No, the streets here are narrow and crooked and crowded at the best of times. Add the Olympic buses and large trucks and you have the makings of complete grid-lock.

The Goal ....vs. .....

Roads that are not dug up are being closed so that oleaginous Olympic officials can ooze their way quickly to their favourite watering holes while the rest of us are being told of the joys of walking to work or perhaps not going to work at all. One suspects that the  real reason for London’s Olympic bid was to find an excuse to upgrade infrastructure that has not been touched since Queen Victoria was a young girl. All the inconvenience to the hapless residents of London is being excused as ‘essential for the Olympics.’ Roads, water mains, gas lines, electricity grid, and the metro system have all been torn up for the last several years in a frantic attempt to finish them before the excuse of ‘The Games’ passes its sell-by date.

.....  The Current Reality

Citizens of Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid should hang onto their wallets very tightly when officials start talking about the cost of the games. When London was awarded the games in 2005 the cost was supposed to be a mere £2.4 billion. The most recent figure is closer to £11 billion – almost five times overbudget.  

In Theory This Will Finish In Time

Japan and Spain can afford to be a bit blasé about bidding for the games. After all they have hosted both the summer and winter games before. For Turkey, however, this is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to show all those doubters in the rest of the world that Turkey has arrived and should definitely sit at the High Table of major nations. Turkish amour propre  demands no less. No bid will be too large – not where prestige and ‘image’ are concerned. The prime minister who champions building a canal to lighten the load on the 20-mile Bosphorus Strait will certainly dig very deep to buy these Olympics. Anyone suggesting that perhaps the Turkish budget could do without the extra strain of hosting this folly will be castigated as milli hain – national traitor. I have no doubt whatsoever that Turkey could physically host these games. There will be no arguments over location of venues. Whole neighbourhoods will be levelled and roads torn up if necessary. Istanbul is a fascinating city that remains a major tourist destination. The Olympics would simply be icing on the cake. Yes, there might be the odd security issue or question about freedom of the press. But these will be buried under a mountain of pretty pictures of the Bosphorus and the Covered Market filled with tourists loading up on knock-off  Louis Vuitton handbags..

Despite all the hullabaloo and hype about the Olympics, which have come to resemble the trashy Eurovision contest, one really does have to ask if the whole thing is worth it. Have the Games gotten so big, so pompous, so political and so incredibly commercial that they have lost their original meaning? Isn’t it time to slim them down and perhaps leave events like Beach Volleyball to the beach at Ipanema where it will be followed by hordes of hormone-challenged young men?

But isn’t it really time to stop this foolish, degrading and very, very expensive competition among global cities to host the games? Why don’t the powers-that-be take the truly brave and radical step of selecting one permanent location for the Games? Think of all the money that would be saved. None of the venues or Olympic villages would be left to rot after the games. The opportunity for the type of corruption that dominates the world football organization would be removed forever. Committee members would have nothing to sell. Transparency, economy and plain common sense would win.

OK, you say. But where? Probably can not be in the United States, Russia or China. Neutral Switzerland, already over-loaded with international organizations, might be an idea. But the weather could be a problem. And do the Swiss really want hordes of foreigners (especially those without large bank accounts in Zurich) descending on their pristine mountains every four years? Probably not.

Bring The Games Home to Athens

Why not Athens? Yes, Athens. The Games started there. The infrastructure from the 2004 Games is in place. The weather is no problem. And the time zone is not too bad for television.

After being ridiculed and roughed up in the world press for the last several years, such a decision would give the Greeks something to cheer about – something that would actually add to their economic fortunes. And by the time all this comes to pass, the economy might even be sorted out.

It is definitely time to Save The Olympics. And bringing them permanently back home would be a good place to start.

The Loneliest Place In Athens

The loneliest place in downtown Athens these days is a high-end retail store. If you so much as pause in front of the store salespeople who normally would only snarl at you for daring to interrupt their cigarette break or their phone conversation now grab you by the arm and drag you into the store. “Would you like a bottle of water, a cup of coffee, anything at all?” When you try to explain that you’re really not interested in yet more silver plate trays or elaborate tea services they rush to show you the ‘new’ inventory. Sadly this ‘new’ inventory turns out to be carton after carton of merchandise they have been unable to sell for the last several months.

If the constant round of protest marches was not enough to deter even the hardiest shopper the taxi drivers are now striking. One of the unexpected side-benefits of the strike is that pedestrians now have a decent chance to cross a street without having to twirl and twist like a matador dodging speeding taxis displaying their utter disdain for traffic signs and stop lights.

The cabbies object to the fact that the government is planning to break the taxi cartel by issuing more licenses to would-be cabbies. In one sense the cabbies have reason to be furious. It’s not so much the extra cabs competing for fares that upsets them, but they stand to lose most of their investment in the cab license. Many of them paid over €100,000 for the licenses and some even mortgaged their homes. Now, with the threat of an unlimited number of cabs hitting the streets, the value of those licenses has dropped like a stone. Cabbies planning to sell their licenses and retire now face the prospect of not being able to retire for several more years.

Despite the searing heat Athens is quite pleasant in the middle of the summer. Many people have deserted the city for the islands, and even the hardiest of protestors seem to have taken a break from the hot work of marching, chanting, and battling riot police. Tour buses from the cruise ships grind through the narrow streets up to the splendid Acropolis Museum. The braver passengers leave the air-conditioned comfort of the museum and trudge up the steep hill to view the splendors of the Parthenon and the Erechtheion – even if the six original caryatids on the latter have been replaced by reproductions. As they dutifully follow their ‘Marvels of the Mediterranean’ tour guide under the broiling sun while she expounds at length on the sublime architecture, Harold from Columbus is beginning to wilt as he starts hallucinating about the more immediate marvels of an ice-cold gin-and-tonic served by some young Russian waitress in the air conditioned bar back on the cruise ship.

People in Greece breathed a sigh of relief when the latest rescue package was announced last Thursday. It will stave off immediate bankruptcy, but serious questions remain about the willingness and the strength of Greek politicians to make the radical long-term changes required if Greece is ever to become a competitive economic entity. The rescue plan comes with a healthy dose of Euro-fudge that makes heroic assumptions about budget balances and proceeds of privatizations. With revenues down because most tax collectors are on what they call a job slow-down (this begs the question of when there was ever a job speed-up) and spending remaining stubbornly high the primary budget deficit has actually increased.

There is an uneasy feeling that Greece has somehow ‘gamed’ the system and successfully called the European Union’s bluff. As long as the threat of financial contagion to other countries remains Greece can basically threaten the European Union with the old cry “If we go down you all go down!” At this delicate point in European finances no one was willing to test this thesis. Athens is filled with skeptics who believe that the Greek government has no intention of making the hard reforms required by its European benefactors and the International Monetary Fund, and will simply play the same game when it runs out of money again in about a year’s time. In truth, the reforms will be hard. The socialist government will have to break up the cozy jobs-for-votes scam it has been running for decades. Favored groups may be faced with the cold  wind of competition. The pervasive corruption that affects all levels of government will have to get cleaned up. It’s much easier to threaten the rest of Europe with chaos and get some extra money. Only next time it may be different. If the EU can spend the next several months protecting Portugal, Ireland and Spain from the potential tsunami effect of a Greek default, the leaders may be less willing to throw more money at Greece.

Adding insult to injury, there are news reports that the number of illegal immigrants landing on Greece’s shores has dropped significantly. Apparently the word has filtered down the immigrant pipeline that Greece is no longer such an attractive destination. When you're down, you're really down.

Pity the National Bank of Greece. It can’t buy a break. It had planned to help its own capital situation by selling 20% of its very profitable Turkish bank, Finansbank. The potential deal was announced several months ago when the market capitalization of the Turkish bank was around $8 billion. Unfortunately for NBG, the Turkish market has been hit with a bad case of investor jitters and has dropped sharply this year, making any deal very hard to complete. Investors have become spooked by Turkey’s large current account deficit, about 9% of GDP and have started dumping the Turkish lira. With the market cap of Finansbank now hovering just above the 2008 purchase price of $5 billion any deal looks like it will have to remain on the shelf for a little longer.

We’re now back in Turkey for several days to see the view from the other side of the Aegean and see how Turkey is dealing with its own economic problems.

The True Cost of Greek 'Austerity'

The polemics about Greek economic problems tend to treat the country and its people as some sort of bloodless, technical, laboratory experiment, far removed from the deep human cost of the so-called ‘austerity’ programs foisted on the Greek people. Austerity, by itself, is not enough. There has to be some promise of better days, some hope of a better future. So far this is lacking in the heated debate of ‘What to do about Greece’, a debate that tends to focus more on bank balance sheets than on real people. Our good friend Evangelos Aretaios, now a journalist in Brussels, recently visited his home town of Athens and kindly sent this report that demonstrates better than most items I have read the true human cost of ‘reforming’ the Greek economy.



A Different Stroll Through Athens
Evangelos Aretaios©, 31/05/2011

Our vehicle tries to find its way between dozens of African teenage prostitutes
scrambling on Patission avenue, one of the main road axes of down town Athens,
and a melancholic female voice fills the car with “Stop the watch’s movement”,
an old Greek popular song of the 60’s.

“I would give anything to be able to stop the watch’s movement, to go back to
the old days”, sadly says Nikos, an old friend from  university while
he smoothly drives his car in an Athens I don’t recognize anymore, an Athens I
had never imagined could become like that.

We reach Victoria’s square an old area, very posh during the 60’s and the 70’s
and then one of the low-middle class orderly neighbourhoods of central Athens --
until the recent arrival of thousands of illegal immigrants living by dozens in
appallingly small apartments.

Nikos checks unconsciously the security of our doors and the car enters
Aristotelous Street, a once-famous street in Greece. Almost fifteen years
ago, while serving the second half of my military service, I had lived for
around nine months in a small and old fashioned, cozy apartment on Aristotelous, and
I used to love strolling around this wider area of down town Athens during the
nights.

Now, suddenly I feel oppressed, almost scared and I look with freezing amazement at
the strange and broken faces of the people on the streets.

“We don’t come down town anymore, it’s the first time in more than a year that I
come over here”, I can hear Nikos’s gloomy voice. He has loved this area
as much I had, maybe even more. His first love was with a girl living just
behind Patission avenue.

“Everybody is afraid now in Athens. The immigrants are afraid of Greeks, the
Greeks are afraid of the immigrants. One day all this will explode, Athens is a
besieged city, from the inside not from the outside”.

A few days ago three illegal immigrants literally slaughtered a Greek man on his
way to take his pregnant wife to the maternity hospital and sold the digital camera they
stole for €120. Over the next few days, far right-wing gangs staged real pogroms
against immigrants in these out-of-state-control vast areas.

“Almost half of Athens is like a huge island of lepers and its growing fast.
It’s an inhuman jungle for every one living there and everybody pays the
terrible price of constant fear and violence. The other half of the city is
either sleeping in order to avoid seeing what is really going on or tries
desperately to deal with austerity and lack of money in every day basis, waiting
for a miracle that will never come”, says Nikos, a once very happy and talkative
guy, and he slips into silence until he brings me back home.

A few hours before our drive to central Athens, Nikos had signed with his twelve
colleagues a document confirming a 7% wage cut for them. Some months ago they had
already signed another document announcing a 10% wage cut and now came the
further 7%. This broke them down financially and morally.

“I don’t know where all that will lead us, maybe the company will close down and
then…”, Nikos did not go on. As if he was afraid to put in words in all these
things he was thinking about the future and the future of his two kids.

Next day, in my parents’ house, my father, my mother and I were all glued in
front of the TV for the evening news, like every Greek household these days. Tax
rises, wages cuts, strikes, privatizations, street violence, cacophony from
Brussels, shameful immaturity from politicians in Athens…

My father was never a talkative person, but these last months he is slipping
further in his silence and he watches TV with the eyes of a man staring at the
gradual but irreversible end of the world. Of his world that he had never
imagined would end up like that.

Later that evening I go out with some old friends to a small bar in the
northern, posh suburbs of Athens. Until late midnight I only listen to stories
of wages cuts, unemployment, thoughts about immigrating abroad, rage and
contempt for the politicians.

“Alright, today I do have a job but tomorrow I may not”, says a friend with a
top managerial job in a big company who seriously thinks about leaving the
country. With two kids and all the extra money we all have to pay for the so-called free
education and the so-called free health, soon it will be impossible even for me
to keep up, and imagine all these people who are already in a worst state than us
and they cannot keep up until the end of the month”, he says with a voice full
of irony and rage.

Next morning I am with Fay, an old friend. She’s a psychologist in a posh area
of Athens and she has lost almost half of her patients. Her husband lost
his job a year ago and he can’t find anything. They have three children.
“We have to learn to live with less, much less, money. The social contract that kids live
better than their parents is over in Greece and it is hard for us, parents, to
accept it”, she says sadly and she adds with a voice filled with poignant
determination: “For the kids we are buying only second hand clothes otherwise we
couldn’t clothe them anymore”.

The last night before I fly back to Brussels where I live, I am driving again in
downtown Athens. Alone this time, trying to put an order in my mind and in all
these unthinkable things happening in Athens, the city where I was born and raised.

And it proves difficult because even if my eyes and my ears are watching and
listening to all things happening, somewhere deep in me there is still a whisper
saying “no, all this is not possible”.

But I know that I am wrong, that all these unthinkable things are only the
beginning. And I suddenly feel that a part of me is vanishing forever.