The 2024 Paris Olympics offered a fascinating lens for observing how sports — and our relationship with them — have evolved over time. Paris also hosted the Games back in 1924, exactly a century earlier, giving us a rare chance to compare the two eras. Olympic sports have become something entirely different since then: more spectacular, more widespread, and grander in scale.
But all that grandeur and pomp has a dark side, too. It’s no secret that many of these massive stadiums, pools, and other Olympic venues fall into neglect — or outright abandonment — not long after the closing ceremony. AdmiGram.com takes a look at some of the most magnificent Olympic venues that now exist only as shadows of their former selves.
Olympic Venues After the Games
Munich, 1972 Olympics
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The 1972 Munich Games are remembered as the most tragic in Olympic history because of the terrorist attack carried out by the Palestinian group Black September against the Israeli team. At the time, Munich built state-of-the-art stadiums, transit stations, and other infrastructure for the Games. But once the Games ended, many of these facilities quickly outlived their usefulness, falling into disrepair and ruin.
Lake Placid, 1980 Olympics
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The 1980 Lake Placid Games remain one of the most controversial when it comes to venue planning. The Olympic Village was designed from the start to be converted into a federal prison after the Games — the idea being to put the facilities to practical use so they wouldn’t fall into disrepair or sit empty. But the plan backfired: many athletes complained that they felt like actual inmates, sleeping on bunk beds that looked straight out of a jail cell.
Sarajevo, 1984 Olympics
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The 1984 Winter Games, held in Sarajevo, are a poignant case: the host country, Yugoslavia, doesn’t even exist anymore. Nearly all of the Olympic venues were destroyed in the wars that swept through the region in the years that followed. The structures that survived are now so overgrown with vegetation that they look like scenes from the jungle.
Athens, 2004 Olympics
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Out of the 26 facilities built for the 2004 Athens Olympics, only four are still in use today. The rest are in a sorry state, since the city can’t afford the upkeep. Athens made a last-ditch effort to convert the Olympic Village into social housing for low-income and homeless residents, but the results have been discouraging.
Turin, 2006 Olympics
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The 2006 Turin Olympics marked Italy’s second time hosting the Games (the first was in Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956). Once the competition wrapped up, Italy struggled to find any use for most of its venues. The Olympic Village and most of the stadiums now sit empty, serving no purpose.
Beijing, 2008 Olympics
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In 2008, China hosted one of the most spectacular and expensive Olympics of the century, reportedly spending a staggering $43 billion. But for reasons that remain unclear, China never found a real use for most of its sports venues. The Olympic Village now resembles a ghost town, and many of the buildings and stadiums look like sets from a post-apocalyptic film.
Vancouver, 2010 Olympics
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Preparations for the 2010 Winter Games coincided with a rough patch for the global economy. In the midst of the global financial crisis, the Canadian government had to cut spending on healthcare, culture, and education by a record 80% to help fund the Olympics. Most of the venues, which had been slated for sale as commercial real estate after the Games, ended up being dismantled instead.
Rio de Janeiro, 2016 Olympics
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The 2016 Rio Olympics were arguably the most scandal-plagued and controversial Games in recent memory. They were marred by so many scandals, mishaps, and even crimes that it’s no surprise many participants couldn’t wait to go home. It’s also well known that Brazil poured its last financial resources into building many of the Olympic venues. Almost immediately after the Games ended, Rio’s Olympic Village turned into a ghost town.
image on top: Matthew Paulson / Flickr
