PARIS (KNWA/KFTA) — Hosting the Olympic Games is a massive undertaking for any city with having to build new stadiums and venues, requiring large infrastructure projects.
After the Games end, many permanent venues for the Olympics continue to see use with some needing to build new ones in order to abide by IOC guidelines.
However, some aren’t so lucky.
Most permanent Olympic venues usually see one of three fates, according to the Olympics website: Still in use, dismantled/destroyed or abandoned.
Once the Olympics end for a host city, many venues go on to host events in the Paralympic Games. After the Paralympics, some venues are used again for sporting events, concerts and other events.
Some also fall into disrepair after the Games end.
A report by the International Olympic Committee in 2022 found that 85% of venues, stadiums and structures (from the 1896 Games in Athens through the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang) used for the Games are still in use.
Of the 15% not in use (124 venues), the IOC said 88 of them were “unbuilt” or demolished for various reasons, leaving 36 abandoned venues.
Eight of those 36 venues come from one Olympic Games, Athens 2004.
Nearly 20 years have passed since the Olympics returned “home” to Athens and according to France24, Greece failed to capitalize on the legacy of a Games that cost the country more than $9 billion.
Spyros Capralos, head of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, said a valuable lesson for host cities came from the Athens Games.
“In today’s world (host cities) should not try to build permanent facilities that would have no use afterwards,” Capralos said to the Agence France-Presse.
Below is one of those venues, the softball stadium at the Helliniko Olympic Complex, during and after the 2004 Games.
Right: ATHENS, GREECE – JULY 31: General view of the Olympic Softball stadium at the Helliniko Olympic complex in Athens, Greece on July 31, 2014. Ten years ago the XXVIII Olympiad was held in Athens from the 13th – 29th August with the motto “Welcome Home”. The cost of hosting the games was estimated to be approx 9 billion euros with the majority of sporting venues built specifically for the games. Due to Greece’s economic frailties post Olympic Games there has been no further investment and the majority of the newly constructed stadiums now lie abandoned. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
The majority of the Helliniko Olympic Complex which included not just the softball stadium but also canoe/kayak, hockey, baseball and basketball facilities have either been abandoned or demolished due to poor planning and political, economic and administrative upheaval, according to The Conversation.
The 2016 Rio Olympics also had venues in disrepair after the Games due to similar issues Athens faced.
Business Insider reported that just six months after the Games ended, the Olympic Village was abandoned.
The IOC said just two venues were abandoned, the BMX track shown during and after the Games below, and the Rio Olympic Village.
Right: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – MARCH 17: An aerial view of the Olympic BMX track on March 17, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Seven months after the Rio hosted the first Olympic games in South America, many of the costly venue sites have been mostly abandoned in spite of promises from organizers that the games would provide a legacy benefit for the citizens of Brazil. The country remains in a deep economic and political crisis following the games. Critics believe the money spent on the games could have been better spent on developing infrastructure in the country. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Venues in the United States are also not safe from abandonment.
Many of the 1996 Olympic venues from the Atlanta Games are still in use except for one, Alonzo Herndon Stadium.
The 15,000-seat stadium was used used for field hockey events during the Games.
After the Atlanta Olympics, the movie “We Are Marshall” was filmed at the stadium. It was later abandoned after Morris Brown College ran into financial difficulties.
Gutted by vandals, it is now covered in graffiti and piles of trash, the Associated Press reported in 2016.
Right: ATLANTA – JULY 18: The old Alonzo Herndon Stadium at Morris Brown College on July 18, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
According to ScreenRant, the stadium was also used for filming select scenes for the movie “Civil War” which was released earlier this year.
The future of Olympic venues
Olympic hosts like Los Angeles, who are set to host the next Summer Olympics, have taken the lessons from from previous host cities.
The LA28 plan says it will mark the first time in Games history that no new permanent venues will be built to host the Games and it plans to utilize “existing world-class stadiums and venues across the Los Angeles region.”
Before being officially awarded the 2034 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City said it planned to use many of the venues that were used during the 2002 Winter Olympics.
In April, IOC members visited Salt Lake City to see if the city would be a good candidate for the Games with some going as far as to say that Salt Lake City could serve as a model for the IOC in the future.
Many of the venues the members visited have been maintained since the 2002 Games such as the Olympic Oval and Soldier Hollow, Nexstar’s KTVX said.
