Five myths about the Olympics

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Outlook • Perspective

Five myths about the Olympics

Actually, host cities lose money on the Games, and the athletes don’t get rich, either.

By Jules Boykoff
Jules Boykoff is a professor of political science at Pacific University in Oregon and author of four books on the Olympic Games.

July 9, 2021 | Updated yesterday at 3:52 p.m. EDT

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to begin this month under a cloud of controversy. Postponed by a year because of the pandemic, the Games are a hot-button issue in Japan, where some polls find that about 80 percent of the population opposes staging the Olympics amid a global pandemic. Japan’s vaccination rate lags behind those of other developed economies, with vaccines for people under age 65 rolling out in full force only a few weeks ago. The Games will feature more than 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries; they’re not required to be vaccinated. Officials announced Thursday that spectators will be banned from all events because of a new pandemic-related state of emergency. These Olympics are different because of the coronavirus, but some myths and misconceptions about the Games persist in any year.

Myth No. 1

Host cities make money.

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By Jules Boykoff
Jules Boykoff is a professor of political science at Pacific University in Oregon and author of four books on the Olympic Games. Twitter https://twitter.com/JulesBoykoff

[hauckeye]

1. I wish they would just pick one city/area to host permanently

[Javaman]

2. Should always be in Athens.

And The winter Olympic a should always be in the alps.

Those are the places were the first Summer and Winter Olympics were held

[DinahMoeHum]

3. Goddamn fucking pay wall. . .

n/t

[mopinko]

4. the big exception- la

i think chicago would have been fine, too,
the big issue is building temporary structures, w little good after-use. this includes housing and transportation.
our plan made great use of that stuff because it already had a frame to hang it on.

la benefited from hosting more than 1, but they made money that has endowed a huge youth athletics program to this day.
like chi- they already had stadiums and university sporting infrastructure.
plus we have a great lakefront.

the there is the media infrastructure.

it's when it gets to be- mine is bigger than yours- that it all goes to hell.

[Shermann]

5. Gold medalists can do pretty well with endorsement deals afterwards

At one point, Bruce Jenner's likeness was a valuable commodity.

These days, eh, not so much.

[Bayard]

6. I thought they were requiring athletes to be vaccinated

Not doing it is just plain stupid.