Well, I guess the ancient Greeks didn't leave a "stern warning."
Posted on 08/21/2012 10:49:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Eight years after Greece spent ~$15 billion to stage the 2004 Summer Olympics, some of those once-gleaming venues are crumbling.
The economy is a part of it, but so is the fact that many of these venues were built only for sports with little local interest (like softball), and now have no use. A number of Greek officials admitted to the AFP that there was a lack of planning, and no one considered what they would be used for after the Games.
Despite all that, many of the venues from the 2004 Games are still going strong. The Olympic Stadium, Olympic Village, media center, and a few small-scale sports arenas have all found tenants.
But still, the aquatics center, beach volleyball arena, and softball arena are all literally falling apart. In addition, the massive Helliniko Olympic Complex where many events were held has been abandoned, and is in desperate need of private investors, according to AFP.
The photos of these venues are stunning, and a stern warning to future host cities of the importance of long-term planning.
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE PHOTOS
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“Well the Greeks have been making the best ruins for a really long time...”
Thanks for a nice laugh on a busy afternoon!
Actually, with their economy being what it is, and with tourism being a potential economic winner for Greece, I would think it would be worthwhile to keep things like the pools kept up, and let people swim in them for a fee. I think lots of people would be interested in swimming in the pools used in the Olympics etc.
“Well the Greeks have been making the best ruins for a really long time...”
Thanks for a nice laugh on a busy afternoon!
Actually, with their economy being what it is, and with tourism being a potential economic winner for Greece, I would think it would be worthwhile to keep things like the pools kept up, and let people swim in them for a fee. I think lots of people would be interested in swimming in the pools used in the Olympics etc.
RE: , I would think it would be worthwhile to keep things like the pools kept up, and let people swim in them for a fee.
You know what happens when you make things free right?
Greece healthcare is free... what’s it doing for them?
Pretty soon, the pools will be dirty, overcrowded and maintenance unpaid for.
You might want to re-read. The original poster wrote "for a fee," not "for free," no doubt for the very reasons you mention.
I agree. I said “for a fee’. Heck, they could probably turn part of the complex into a Spa, and charge people for Greek vacations at the Olympic Spa..
Italians and concrete, pour 1 yard charge for 5, “You gotta problem with dat?”
A great example of the all-too-common short-sightedness, if not outright stupidity, of beauracrats. I've wondered this about the Olympic venues every time I've watched the Olympics, and somehow it never occurred to the "Greek officials" who were making billion dollar decisions?
It looks like California to me.
They might've SPENT it, but others WORKED for it!
It's just typical for how "some" folks treat stuff they didn't really work for in the first place. (Inner City, USA, comes to mind.)
They look almost as bad as the venues from the 84 Sarajevo Winter Games (which had all been bombed)
Visited Athens for first and last time in 2009. I wanted to see the ancient Greek artifacts, structures and Parthenon. I am quite comfortable, knowing that the British Museum in London has a lot of the art work from the Parthenon. At least it’ll be preserved. Otherwise, I found Athens to be a pit. Graffiti was everywhere, lots of homeless Africans and beggars. It was apparent that the citizenry takes no pride in what was one of the first nation-states on earth.
Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad - Euripides.
The Greeks were furious when they did not get the Centenary Olympic Games in 1996. Additionally, the Greek Socialist governments in the years leading up to the 2004 Games struggled to fund the structures required for the event with the workmen still constructing in the month prior to the Games. Of course, certain efforts like the Athens Subway system, kept finding artifacts and stopping for archeologists to preserve the same. Greece has artifacts, who knew!?
With their legendary ouzo time culture, the Athens Olympics had to hire a lot of foreign workers to ‘fill-in’ (expensive!) Finally, being the good Euro-Socialists that they were, the idea of private enterprise and profit being a good thing for helping pay for these events was odious at best. Given the vocal criticism leveled at Atlanta for the rampant sponsorship (Coca-Cola’s home town), Greece gave such efforts a half hearted acceptance at best.
So in place of Atlanta’s US$10 million profit of 1996, the best estimates from outside observers is that Athens (and Greece) are still ‘paying’ the loss of several million Euros or more.
An interesting comparison is how structures are used after the Olympic Torch gutters out. In Atlanta, almost all structures are still in use, although the largest, Centennial Olympic Stadium, was partially demolished to form the current Ted Turner Field of the Atlanta Braves. Much of the other structures went to the various local colleges for their use. The Centennial Park remains a well used park for Atlanta.
Hopefully, the London structures will also become mostly in permanent use as they have been designed for. It is a lesson for the Olympic organizers that the Summer Olympics need to be awarded to large metropolitan areas that can reuse these expensive facilities. Athens was not and is not such a place, their award was for tradition and sympathy but the results are quite logical.
This is at the custom built bicycle racing track/stadium built for the 1984 Olympics and apparently still going strong...
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