According to an article called “Do the Olympics cost too much for host cities?” by Charles Riley in July 2012 from CNN Money, stated some days before the London games started that, “The British government has raised its initial $4 billion cost estimate to nearly $15 billion. Some estimates project an even higher cost”. This is approximately 7.5 times more than what Atlanta 1996 cost, and just 16 years later. Meaning than in Madrid 2020, we are waiting on billions of euros more to be invested in the event.
Winter Games
Maybe you have seen it the past month, every competitor on top of the freezing ice and snow. This is called the Winter Olympic Games. I’m sure you have seen it before, but perhaps these are not so well known as the normal games taking place in summer. This major international sporting event occurs also with a separation of 4 years between each of them. But this games are also between the normal games, meaning every two years there must be either Winter or Summer Olympics. This huge competition started 89 years ago in Chamonix, France. The idea was to take advantage of the time in the year and make a competition that included skiing, skating, ice hockey, and much more disciplines. These games were sadly interrupted by the World War II, and resumed in 1948 till 2014 this February in Sochi, Russia. The games had amazing opening and closing ceremonies and were a complete success thanks to every single person that was part of it, participating and watching them daily.
There is nothing more exciting than a sports encounter of such greatness where people all around the world stop fighting for a few weeks and rather play the game. This is a place where talents are discovered, partnership and friendship bonds are linked, and peace is demonstrated between nations. The Olympic games are the only event in history that is able to connect so many different people with a healthy common interest to peacefully compete between each other with the same target. The feelings produced by this magnum event are endless and each athlete hides a passion, a talent, and a whole different story. Both, participating and watching the games is and has always been always very touching and exciting.
I want to end this article with two quotes, one from the comeback of the Olympics in 1894, and the other one from a Sochi Winter games athlete last month:
“The most important thing in the Olympic games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”
– Pierre de Coubertin (primarily responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1894)
"For sportsmen, the price of victory is blood and sweat."
– Alexey Voevoda, Russia 1 push athlete in Sochi.
Author: Rene Darwich