MARCH | THE COMMENTATOR
Olympic
fail
Martin Fullard
is no white
elephant
O
ne of my favourite
TV shows on the last
decade was 2012, a
mockumentary starring Hugh
Bonneville as the man charged
with delivering the London
Olympics. One of the best
episodes was the one where the
Head of Legacy, played by Amelia
Bullmore, was tasked with
looking for a football team to
move into the London Stadium
after the Games. Of course,
today it is the home of West Ham
United, but back then there was
a firm call for it to remain an
athletics stadium.
The character seeks out
Dagenham & Redbridge Football
Club, a non-league club with an
average attendance of about
1,500. Perfect satire.
With all due to respect to the
Daggers, a 60,000-seat stadium
is overkill, but that wasn’t a
factor in the bureaucrats tasked
with ticking a box to find a
purpose for something after it
has fulfilled its use.
Bidding for the Olympics is
a huge undertaking. It’s a lot
of work over six-years to build
all new pools, stadiums and
bowling greens for just two
weeks of half-entertaining sport.
So how on earth can an elected
government support a multi-
billion-dollar project and have no
idea what to do with it after the
last hurdle has been cleared?
Is there a greater example of
this folly than Rio de Janeiro?
Last month, a judge in
Brazil ordered the closure of
the venues built for the 2016
Olympic Games over safety
concerns.
The city’s authorities had not
provided safety guarantees for
the Olympic Park to hold public
events, the judge said.
In 2016, the site hosted
basketball, swimming and
tennis competitions. It is now
used for concerts and other
events, including e-sports, but
parts of it have been poorly
maintained. The Games
were criticised for their cost,
problems during building, and
alleged corruption, and yet some
are surprised by the disaster
that unfolded.
Cast your minds back to
before the Games were held in
Rio. Critics argued that the sites
were too big and expensive to
maintain in the long term, with
many warning that some risked
becoming ‘white elephants’.
There were similar warnings
ahead of the Fifa World Cup in
2014, which was also held in
Brazil.
Yes, most of those new
stadiums are falling apart too.
It’s a travesty that so much
money had to be wasted on
vanity. Despite Brazil now
being one of the world’s biggest
economies, there is still a huge
percentage of poverty. It is a
noble mantra to say you want
to take such high-profile events
to certain parts of the world,
but how dare these sporting
commissions not provide strict
guidance and criteria on how
countries and governments
should go about their bid.
They should put legacy at the
cornerstone of any nation’s bid,
where a national government
must outline how the privilege
of hosting the Olympics or World
Cup will be used to improve
people’s lives, while not spending
money for fun.
It’s all well and good saying
you want a legacy: but you need
to prove you have a plan for one
first.
“Is there a greater example of this folly
than Rio de Janeiro?”
59