The competition for hosting the Olympics is fierce. Cities go to crazy extremes to impress the Olympic committee. All with the hope of being awarded the games. However is hosting the Olympics actually worth it for cities?
According to new research, probably not. Hosting the Olympics is expensive, and the return on that huge investment is objectively quite small. To document this phenomena, photographers Jon Pack and Gary Hustwit teamed up on “The Olympic City Project.”
The goal of the project is to document the aftermath of the Olympic Games in their respective host cities. What they found was pretty surprising. Just check out these photos.
Olympic Stadium from the 1952 Summer Olympics in Hellsinki, Finland.
Former TV tower at Olympic Park in Barcelona, Spain. Built for the 1992 Summer Olympics. It’s still used today.
Remnants of the Olympic village from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.
The Olympic Motor Inn in Lake Placid, NY still continues the legacy of the 1980 winter games that took place there.
When the olympic games came to Lake Placid in 1980, the Adirondack Correctional Facility was repurposed and became the Olympic Village. The inmates were shipped elsewhere for the duration of the games.
Former ski jump area from the 1984 games in Sarajevo.
Wall built at the foot of the ski jump.
Medal platform from the 1984 Sarajevo games.
Leftovers from the 2012 Games in London.
Repurposed athlete housing in Moscow built for the 1980 Summer Games. They are now used as apartments for government employees.
Athlete housing from the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Also converted into apartments.
The Roses Pool from the 1960 Rome Olympics now houses a popular athletic center.
The decaying leftovers from the Summer 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
The Montreal Olympic Stadium built for the 1976 summer games.
Palacio de los Deportes from the 1968 games in Mexico City.
Movie theatre in the Olympic Village of the 1968 games in Mexico City.
Laoshan Velodrome from the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
(Via: Business Insider)
It’s crazy how much the fate of each Olympic city varies from place to place. Show your friends what happens after the Olympics are over by clicking below.
