The Olympics, What They Are And Why No One Wants To Host Them

The Olympic games, named after where they originated, Olympia, Greece, have been around since time immemorial. The games, which occur once every four years, see athletes from 206 countries compete for podium appearances.

The modern Olympic games, known for their pomp and colour, started in 1986 and featured nine sports, including swimming, athletics, and wrestling. Additional sports have been added over the years, with host cities being given chances to add other games to the programme when they stage them.

Today, over 32 editions of the Olympics have taken place, with the Paris 2024 Olympics marking the 33rd edition.

The games, which take place over a period of not more than 16 days, witnessing more than 5 million attendees and over 3 billion viewers, require host cities to place their bids to the International Olympics Committee (IOC), at least seven years to the actual event.

The bidding process, which has been competitive over the years, sees bidding cities go head to head for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show off. Twelve cities placed their bids to host the 2004 Olympics, ten for 2008, but only two for 2024, leaving the question: Why don’t cities want to host this most prestigious sports event anymore?

The stories of previous host cities is one of the reasons. The games have been viewed as politically risky after violent political protests broke out in 1968 in Mexico City and terrorist activities in Munich in 1972, which left several athletes dead.

But the games have also forced cities to spend, making Los Angeles volunteer to host the games in 1984 when there were no takers, under the condition that the city would use the venues it already had.

This financially smart move made cities rethink their decisions, and bids started flowing in. But not for long, as demands started to pile up when the IOC started adding games to the programme, raising the demand for construction of venues, accommodation, and transport systems for the Olympic villages.

The competitive nature of the bidding process has previously seen cities try and outdo each other to make their bids more attractive.

But the hosts have been making losses besides the benefits the IOC claims come with hosting the Olympics. Deserted stadiums, impractical uneconomic transport systems and damage following the event, is what paints the faces of many of these cities. Projects that cost taxpayers more money to maintain.

This has made citizens protest against their cities placing bids as in the case of Boston and Hamburg in the 2024 bid. Rome also shut down its bid and a petition filed in Budapest forced them to drop out of the competition.

This made the IOC make an out of left field decision in 2017, by announcing the hosts of both the 2024 and 2028 Olympics, out of fear that there would be no volunteers for the latter.

This leaves the question: Will the Olympics go back to Greece?