And now the post-mortem begins. A lot of people expected these games to be an epic failure, and I'm sure quite a few will be sorry that they weren't. No South American country has ever hosted an Olympics before, and after some of the problems they had in Rio, I'm certain a few people would say none should be chosen as a host again.
Which is unfair.
Did they have problems? Yes. Issues arose with the housing for athletes and media, including poor plumbing and electrical problems. There was concern over the lagoon used for sailing, rowing and the swimming part of the triathlon, since it was (to all intents and purposes) an open sewer. But perhaps the most glaring problem organizers encountered was the infamous "green pool"
Which officials did rectify. Then, there was the lack of people in the stands for some of the events due, some say, to security screening.
There had been concerns about security, since Rio has a reputation of being a thief's paradise, where visitors are easy pickings. But, aside from the infamous U.S swimmers false claim of being held up at gunpoint, and a few other instances, I saw or heard of no major problem. In fact, security seemed to have done a good job, again from my outside-looking-in perspective. At least there were no repeats of the terrorist attack of Munich, or the bombing in Atlanta.
One big question is the cost. Can Brazil, which some say is a 2nd world country, pay off the more than 4 billion dollars it cost to host the games? Look back 40 years to when Montreal hosted the 1976 games. It took taxpayers across Canada more than 30 years to pay off that bill.
And now, the focus shifts to Japan, specifically Tokyo, for the 2020 games.
At the risk of sounding anti-Olympic, I'm going to throw out something I've said in the past on many different venues. I believe it's time for organizers to look at having 2 permanent sites for both the summer and winter games. Greece is the obvious choice for the summer Olympiad, and I propose Switzerland for the winter games. What I'm suggesting is that every country wanting to send athletes to participate should contribute (and this could be based on population, GDP etc) a minimum amount every year. That would spread out the cost over 4 years between the games, which wouldn't be too big a strain on a country's budget. That money would go into a pot to be used for upkeep and upgrades of facilities, including housing, and security. Even if that worked out to 2 billion dollars per games, the cost per country would be less than 50 million a year, depending on the number of countries sending athletes.
That would make running the games an affordable option, even though I will admit there is a benefit of being the host country on a rotational basis. But I still feel permanent hosts would be, if not the best way, certainly one way to go.
This turned into a bit of a rant. Sorry.
And before I go, I should offer congratulations to ALL the athletes who picked up medals, and to all those who competed for their country.
TTFN
