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Legacy of the Olympic Games
Legacy of Olympic Games Luka Shanidze and Billy Backhouse assess the legacy of the Olympic Games
In 1894, the IOC was founded by Baron Pierre de Counterbin, with the belief that “organised sport can create moral and social strength”. The first Olympic Games took place in 1896 in Athens and they proved to be a huge success, becoming the largest international sports event in the world. Ever since, the aims of the Olympic Games have been the same social and moral unification, and even though some of them have had negative effects on the hosts and did not achieve this aim (such as Athens, 2004), most manage to realise Counterbin’s vision, leaving behind great legacies (such as Munich, 1972).
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Olympic Games in Munich, 1972
The mood preceding the Munich Olympics in 1972 was very optimistic, hence the motto: ‘Heitere Spiele’ (cheerful Games). Unfortunately, this optimism was overshadowed by the Munich Massacre, but some positive infrastructural legacy remains. The city of Munich had been planning to build a large stadium since as far back as the end of WW1, mostly to accommodate the rising popularity of football. Following the Olympics, the iconic Olympiastadion became the home of FC Bayern München, and later also to their local rivals 1860 München. The Olympiastadion also hosted the 1997 Champions League final, won by Borussia Dortmund. Since the Munich Games, the stadium has also been used for other sports such as athletics and snowboarding events. However, after the opening of the Allianz arena in 2005, it has mainly been a popular destination for artists’ tours, hosting the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson many times. Other Olympic infrastructures in Munich either serve alternative purposes today or enjoy continued use. The Olympiadorf (Olympic village) is used today as a housing complex and student accommodation, and is one of the most popular housing areas in Munich. Other sports facilities, such as the ice sports or aquatic centre are open to the public and the Olympiapark itself engages in annually organized events, like triathlons. When people reflect on the Munich Olympics of 1972, the laments are mostly negative, because of the Munich massacre. But apart from that tragedy, it is clear that the Munich Olympics could easily have been some very memorable Games, and they certainly left behind a legacy that lives up to that.
Olympic Games in Athens, 2004
In 2004, Athens saw the completion of its £7billion olympic park investment. The park, state-of-the-art for its time, has fallen into severe disrepair in the last decade. Originally, the Greek Olympic committee had planned for the facilities to be used ad eternum by the residents of Athens to try and revive the long-forgotten sporting tradition of the city. The games were a huge success, drawing in millions of spectators from around the world to the ‘city of the violet crown’ where the games were first conceived.
However, the 2008/9 global financial crisis hit the Greek economy hard. Subsequently, budgets were slashed for the upkeep of the park thus eradicating any chance of continued use. Now, only the ghost of past success haunts the derelict buildings, dry swimming-pools and empty stadia. A crumbling theatre, inscribed with the words ‘glory, wealth, wisdom, triomph, hero, labour’ serves as a poignant echo of the prior prosperity of the Olympic park and Greece more broadly. The tragic decline of Greece is memorialised in this bleak image of such decrepitude; waste-filled venues litter the landscape, the skeletal limbs of trees left to wither and die and graffiti scrawled upon monuments which once stood as a celebration of Greek achievement. However, some infrastructure has withstood the crushing blow of the crash. The subway continues to bustle with the perpetual noise of commuters: a lugubrious glimpse of what could have been.
