Another entertainingly corrupt sporting event has just started in Paris, opening with a barge packed ceremony on the Seine. Thousands of simpering commentators, paid-up media gawkers and bored influencers have been ready with their computers, phones and confected dreams. As always, the Olympics throws up the question about how far the host city has managed to come through on the issue of facilities, infrastructure and organisation. Few would have doubted that Paris has the facilities, but there was always going to be grumbling about the choice of opening, mode of execution and, most importantly, the cost both financial and social.
For the budget-minded types, the Olympics, and analogous monumental sporting events, continue to lose their appeal – along with the finances. The extortionate strain on the public wallet, the bleeding of funds from budgets, has made them most unattractive propositions for the hosts. To this can be added the disruptions to commerce, the occupation of valuable real estate along with environmental harm, the forceful displacement of residents, instances of gentrification and the redirecting of labour from vital infrastructure projects.
Even for the sports-crazed Australians, such events as the 2026 Commonwealth Games proved unappetising, with the state Victorian government cancelling the event in July 2023. The whole matter had been grossly irresponsible on the part of the Andrews government, given its initial praise of the games leading up to their re-election. The Victorian Auditor General was deeply unimpressed by the episode, subsequently finding that the cancellation had cost A$589 million, comprising A$150 million in terms of employee and operating costs and the A$380 million settlement.
In March this year, there were media rumblings that Brisbane, the planned host city for the 2032 Olympics, was considering a similar response. The Queensland state government had sought advice about how much it would cost cancelling the entire effort and received an estimate lying anywhere between A$500 million and A$1 billion. A further $3 billion in federal funding would have also been compromised. The fractious venture was set to continue.
With six months to go, Paris was awash with the logistical disruptions that come with such an event. Transit fares had increased. The bouquinistes with their book stalls along the Seine, a feature made permanent by Napoleon III in 1859, were threatened by the city’s police with closure for the duration of the Games, a threat that President Emmanuel Macron eventually scotched. Public sector employees demanded pay increases and unions got busy planning strikes.
The night before the opening of the Games saw thousands of activists gather at the Place de la République, coordinated by the activist collective La Revers de la Médaille (the Other Side of the Medal). The event, featuring some 80 grassroot organisations, had been billed the “Counter-Opening Ceremony of the Olympics” and inspired by the statement “des Jeux, mai pour qui?” (“Games, but for whom?”)
Representing a broader coalition of groups, La Revers de la Médaille had released a statement in Libération prior to the gathering mocking official claims that Paris 2024 would leave a society more inclusive in its wake. This could hardly be reconciled with the eviction of some 12,500 vulnerable individuals as part of an effort described as “social cleansing”.
In their “Oxford Olympics Study 2024”, co-authors Alexander Budzier and Bent Flyvbjerg conclude that the Olympics “remain costly and continue to have large cost overruns, to a degree that threatens their viability.” All Games, “without exception”, run over budget. “For no other type of megaproject is this the case, not even the construction of nuclear power plants or the storage of nuclear waste.” For organisers of the event, the budget is an airy notion, “a fictitious minimum that was never sufficient” typical of the “Blank Check Syndrome.”
The authors acknowledge the efforts made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reform the games through such efforts as Agenda 2020 and Agenda 2020+5 but find their overall efforts patchy and unsuccessful. Despite these programs, the cost of the Games were “statistically significantly increasing.” Admittedly, the instances of cost overruns had significantly decreased until 2008, after which the trend was reversed. The costs for Paris 2024, based on estimates available at the study’s publication, came to $US8.7 billion, a cost overrun of 115% in real terms. “Cost overruns are the norm for the Games, past, present and future. The Iron Law applies: ‘Over budget, over and over again’.”
Such events are, however, always attractive to the political classes willing to find some placing in posterity’s shiny ranks. As the money they play with is almost never their own, expense is less significant than the pyrotechnics, the noisy show, the effort, the collective will that figures such as Albert Speer understood so well when planning the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Give the public, and the sporting fraternity, flags, standards, pageantry. Let them perform in large stadia, on pitches, and in water. The world will soon forget the killjoys worried about money or weepy about the displaced.
It pays remembering those words of lamentation from USforeign correspondent William Shirer in his diary, penned on August 16, 1936: “I’m afraid the Nazis have succeeded with their propaganda. First, the Nazis have run the Games on a lavish scale never before experienced, and this has appealed to the athletes. Second, the Nazis have put up a very good front for the general visitors, especially the big businessmen.”
Such a formula has, for the most part, worked for decades, despite the odd hiccup of dissent and forensic critiques of the Blank Check Syndrome. Be they despotic, authoritarian or democratically elected, if corrupt representatives, this is a show that is bound to go on with profligate persistence.
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There’s no doubt the exercise is expensive & disruptive, and yet, the circus goes on ??
One problem troubling the French is dealing with its rat population – Paris being one of the most rat-infested cities in the world.
[ https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/rats-in-paris-are-ready-for-the-olympics/k1hukei4r ]
Recent heavy rain has apparently forced more rats out of the sewers and into the public gaze and the rain may well cause real problems with the swimming leg of the triathlon – the athletes having to doge turds in the Seine.
Quelle horreur. C’est une catastrophe !!
lf individuals, politicians , cities and nations stopped status seeking one -up- manship activities events such as these would quietly shrink or disappear and our collective wallets and the long abused environment would be the beneficiary. I will be reading a lot of books for the next couple of weeks . By all means play sport for fun and fitness, but keep the money merchants far away.
As a Queenslander I’m already having concerns about the Brisbane 2032 Games with murmurings from the Nationals within the LNP that they won’t support the Games if they get into office in Queensland later this year and One Nation are already campaigning in regional Qld for us to withdraw altogether.
It’s a massive commercial risk for Queensland and if there is no bipartisan support we need to think carefully about the viability of this extravaganza for little old Brissy and the Australian taxpayer !
JP, re. doge [sic] turds, (‘doge’ being a name for a former chief magistrate or judge in the republics of Venice & Genoa, a digression, I admit), the median size of a rat’s turd is about the dimension of a small brown jelly bean. Those triathletes are gonna’ have to be very much on the lookout!
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Palestinians in Gaza are forced to wade through sewage waters colonised by Poliovirus. I daresay they’ve got other things on their mind apart from finding time to tune into the latest from Paris.
Can’t disagree with Binoy’s usual forensic analysis, this time of the matter of the quadrennial circus; this bloated phenomenon which generally seems to threaten bankruptcy of its hosts while pouring billions of dollars into the hands of developers, promoters, sporting bodies and political fixers, for what? A couple of weeks of razzmatazz, trinkets for the lucky, heartache for the not-so lucky, all to be forgotten until the next big show rolls around, all of it essentially meaningless, pointless, wasteful, vulgar, a shallow display of competitive egos striving to demonstrate their superiority over others.
Here’s a stat: 200,000 male condoms, 20,000 female condoms and 10,000 oral dams available to those in the Olympic Village.
Enough said. 🙁
Gawd. Are the Olympics here again?
We’ve only just had the last one.
Bread and circuses,what’s changed? Have to agree with some other comments…we’re fucked.If that despicable arsehole gets elected in America,we’re doubly fucked.
The Olympic Games should be returned to Athens, Greece where they belong – and STAY there! Wealthy, participating nations, like the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK and other European nations, can contribute an amount that is commensurate with their population and/or participating athletes and athletes from poorer nations should be duly subsidised and/or sponsored. In any case, does anyone REALLY remember who came 2nd or 3rd in an Olympic event or, indeed, who won a Gold Medal four years ago? Does anyone REALLY care?
The level of stratospheric expense, waste and outrageous costs nations use to stroke the fragile egos of self-important sportsmen/women is BEYOND what anyone can consider reasonable or appropriate! Such funds would be better used to lift the poorest, most vulnerable people in the world out of grinding poverty.
The rising level of aggressive competitiveness does NOTHING to unite the world; instead, it creates an atmosphere of division and envy where winning at any cost becomes the ultimate goal; where the poorest nations on the planet are “left out in the cold” and, indeed, where successful sportsmen/women fortunate enough to be born and/or permanently reside in such wealthy first world nations just reinforce the bitter reality of the “have and have nots” where there is – and always will be – unfair advantages and benefits provided to the Top 1%.
America has a huge population of more than 342 Million so, the reality is, that when compared to smaller nations like Australia that only has a population of around 25 Million, it proves that Australia is, indeed, a far more successful nation per capita! Whatever Gold Medals that Australia wins – based on our national population – America would need to win at least 12 TIMES MORE MEDALS in order to be comparatively more successful. Considering, both nations: Australia and America have each got 5 Gold Medals in the current 2024 Olympic Games, in order to remain as truly competitive with Australia – on a per capita basis – America would need to attain 60 Gold Medals and it is nowhere near it!
Synchronised cheque writing.
Got to be a medal for it.
Desk 1 State Government
Desk 2. Federal Government
Sponsored by; tax payers
@Canguro.
Correction noted, thank you.
However re turds, the problem is considerably larger than rat-sized.
“Exclusive test detects gross find in iconic Olympic site” (Courier Mail).
On top of that wee problem, E-coli and other nasties also lurk within.
[ https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/11/sport/paris-olympics-seine-triathlon-bacteria-spiking-intl/index.html ]
The olympics used to be good,before, say about 1964, when they were still ostensibly amateur.Hitler used them as a self promotion thing in 1936, but as soon a ‘capitalists’ recognised the potential for a quid,they’ve been going downhill ever since.Jingoism,patriotism,promotion of a particular social system..communism(where they cheated like fuck) democracy,which was so much better,etc. Successive governments in different countries,through politicians whose egos outweighed their nous have been easy pickings for those looking to loot the public purse…no different to the tobacco crooks or the fossil fuel wallahs.Gas led recovery? You bet your arse The Brisbane games should be cancelled immediately..The state of play in this country can’t possibly allow for this taxpayer rape when we have so many in desperate need of government assistance. Will it happen?Not while we have a duopoly of corporate captives.
JP, thanks for that CNN link, a fun read:
A couple of snips…
“Swimming in the Seine has been illegal for more than 100 years due to the river’s pollution levels, though some swimming has been permitted recently as part of triathlon test events.”
and…
“The mayor of Paris told French radio Wednesday that she would swim in the city’s River Seine next week, in a bid to show its suitability for the Olympics despite ongoing cleanliness concerns.”
Indeed, the omniscience of a local government official, a politician; willing to ignore the objective data and (pun intended) plunge on in. Seems to be pretty cavalier to make an exemption for the athletes when no-one else is allowed in that polluted stream.
Reminds me of the Monsanto lobbyist claiming that glyphosate was safe to drink… except in his case he refused when offered a glass of the herbicide.
G I I P
I agree with it going back to Greece.
And Greece being as poor as uck the event list would be reduced to the original.
(Reminds me of a Kevin Bridges sketch about poor Greece).
Track and field.
Wrestling.
Chariot racing (equestrian).
Far too many events which add more and more costs.
No winter event either….. and no expensive IOC.
YESSSS – Get it in Perspective, EXACTLY THAT !!
It began in Greece, it can return to Greece – every nation participating can contribute according to their means. Millions will be saved on making bids to have, greasing the palms of the IOC to give your country the gong, and we can all just focus on making competition possible for our athletes.
DO IT, SOONER RATHER THAN LATER
Olympics were born out of an idealised world. The reality is quite different all those years down the track.
It should be based in Olympia out of respect to history and every nation that competes should contribute to its infrustructure.
No more jetting around the world to far out places that nobody really cares about. No more stranded assets in those countries.
Its an economic arguement to rationalise the whole show.
Then i suggest three fundamental changes.
Nobody under 18 to compete. No more children wasting their whole junior years.
Secondly, no man is allowed to restrain his balls while competing. This gives men an unfair advantage over women. We want to see a pure sport not a technological space race.
All running races in arenas shall have no shoes…run bare foot. I exclude marathons because you cant control obstacles like broken glass these days.
Terence, the QLD Olympic Games in 2032 happens at an interesting point in time.
According to a pro-climate change doc out of the UK, Absolute Zero (Nov 2019):
– all airports except Heathrow, Glasgow & Belfast in the UK will shut by 2030, all airports by 2049.
Things are going to get squeezy.
Forget about boat cruises by 2049. Nil available.
Seems by 2052, Olympics will be virtual events for the public. Or maybe AI-generated.
If I’m still here then I might get a virtual telegram from a virtual King / Queen / Them.
I will probably have to pay the electronic transfer fee for the hologram telegram.
See where this is going?
Yaawwnn…just another round of the four yearly giant money grab.
Over-exaggerated hype. Like most large sporting events, a total waste of time and money just so the winners can brag that they are better than the others. It’s all about politics, nothing to do with the actually sporting events and athletes.
All I ever see is the complete waste of so much money that could and should be used for helping out the human suffering for those who are more concerned about where their next meal is coming from than having a telly to watch boring games their country most likely is not even involved in.
After 26 years together my wife has now given up asking me why I never watch any of the olympics, commonwealth games, soccer or rugby world cups or any other ‘world’ sporting events. (Obviously the Yank sports are not included even though they refer to their events as ‘world series’ which, strangely, are only played by just one country?) I find more excitement in watching grass grow or paint drying.
@ Terence,
Yes, as a fellow Qld’r, I share your concerns, as do most of the people I work with and otherwise know.
I have great respect for people who rise to the lofty heights of being the best in the world at their chosen sport – I have taught a few of them – but the Olympics in it’s current form does not give me much joy.
I don’t really know what the answer is, but I do fear for the financial well being of Qld, both in the preparation for and once it is all over.