Inside the abandoned Olympic venues, from the deserted stadia of Rio 2016 to the rotting Athens 2024 basketball courts
THE Olympics are a costly affair for any country to take on.
It is believed London 2012 incurred costs that ran up to £9billion – three times the original budget of £2.4billion.
The money is often spent on building new facilities, improving current stadia, and in the case of Beijing 2008 – building motorways and roads in the city.
You might think that once that expensive new infrastructure is in place it would be well maintained.
But in many cases once the show is over, what gets left behind often becomes a sorry sight.
These stunning images from past Winter and Summer Games show the derelict ruins from the likes of Berlin 1936, Sarajevo 1984 and Turin 2006.
They truly have to be seen to be believed, and should act as a warning to Paris 2024 organisers.
SunSport reveals what some of the venues look like now, including one former athletes’ village in Turin that became a refugee camp.
Sarajevo 1984
Between 8-19 February 1984, Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina played host to the Winter Games.
However, most of the venues were destroyed during Bosnia’s war from 1992-1995 and were never rebuilt.
This included a disused ski jump, Olympic accommodation for athletes and a hotel left in ruins.
Worse still, a podium from that Winter Olympics was used ten years later as a place of execution for Bosnian Muslims and a hotel was turned into a prison.
Turin 2006
In the second Winter Games to be held in Italy, it was the Germans who were the most successful.
But what was once the Olympic village in Bardonecchia, where the athletes relaxed and enjoyed downtime, was turned into a refugee camp.
More than 1,000 migrants are said to have lived in the homes at one point, according to reports, and the living conditions became extremely poor.
Berlin 1936
The notorious Summer Games in Germany, which was under Nazi rule at the time, has left nasty scars of that time with its abandoned sports venues.
Halls that used to house athletes were later used as barracks for the German army, and after that Russian officers resided there from 1945.
Swimming pools and other areas of the House of Nations have also been left to descend into a rotting state.
Beijing 2008
It’s amazing what can happen in 16 years, especially in a country that prides itself on its infrastructure.
Beijing 2008 was believed to have cost £32billion in total, and it was a memorable Games.
However, over a decade later a former course for the kayaking competition had been left in tatters.
While these days, a beach that was built for volleyball is disused and dilapidated, and the baseball park has also seen better days.
Atlanta 1996
The saddest legacy of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games still remains deserted and looking very sorry itself.
Some 15,000 people crammed into the Herndon Stadium in the US city for a hockey game between Great Britain and the Netherlands.
It formerly belonged to the Morris Brown College. However, when they ran into financial difficulties the school was soon closed down.
The stadium has been left gutted by vandals and is covered in graffiti and piles of trash.
Athens 2004
Hosting the Olympics means countries spend an absolute fortune building the right venues and making them safe enough for fans to enjoy.
Greece spent £8billion on bringing the Olympics home, but after their economic frailties post-Olympic Games further investment on stadia stalled.
And they’re doing little in the upkeep of what already exists, with rotting softball and baseball venues just some of the eyesores.
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Cortina D’Ampezzo 1956
Still a popular ski resort in northern Italy, Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 was dominated by the Soviet Union who won seven gold medals.
The Ice Stadium, the Eugenio Monti bobsleigh run and the disused ski jump Trampolino Olimpico Italia were prime areas where events took place.
The latter has aged well and there’s a plush lawn underneath where skiers would land their jumps.
However, the ramp does look like it dates back to the 1950s and it appears to be completely frozen in time.
Paris Olympics with 300k condoms
Nearly 15,000 residents – around 10,500 of which are athletes – will be cramming into the Olympic village between July 26 and August 11.
To ensure the athletes feel at home, a number of provisions have been made by organisers.
One of these is the stocking of some 300,000 condoms, in theory enough for around two every day during the run of the Games.
A number of Olympic athletes have opened the door on their steamy lives behind-the-scenes when in camp, including huge sex orgies and parties.
London 2012 had claimed the title of “the raunchiest Games ever”, but the 150,000 condoms ordered paled in comparison to the 450,000 ordered for the Rio Games four years later.
Condoms have been laid on by organisers at every game since Seoul 1988, when it they were used to spread awareness of HIV and AIDS.
Even with an intimacy ban at Tokyo 2020 due to Covid-19, some 150,000 johnnies were handed out.
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Rio 2016
Less than 10 years on and the biggest casualty from the Summer Games of 2016 was the Olympics Aquatics stadium, which was eventually ransacked.
It sat abandoned at the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro and puddles of water were found inside and outside the venue, exposing zika and dengue risks.
Also, three mini-basketball, football fields and a skatepark that were installed were left in ruins.
However, in 2022 parts of the the Aquatics Stadium structure were donated to Bangu Atlético Clube and to a samba school in the neighborhood of Lins de Vasconcelos.
This year, the stadium was fully dismantled – with its pools donated to varying projects around Rio.