What happens to host cities after the Olympics are over?

Transcript

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A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

The medals are awarded, and the athletes and fans are headed home. Now, will Paris have an Olympic-sized hangover?

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Many host cities struggle with the aftermath of the Games for years after the Olympic cauldron is extinguished - or, in this case, flipped off. Remember, it's made of lights. Jules Boykoff teaches political science at Pacific University in Oregon, and has written books about the politics of the Olympics. He says he was hopeful that Paris could avoid some of the pitfalls of the past, but...

JULES BOYKOFF: They've proven to kind of fall into the same traps.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, he's talking about the costs required to host the Olympics. Take the London Games in 2012, for example - organizers' early estimates for the budget put the total cost at about $6 billion.

BOYKOFF: Instead, according to one investigation by Sky Sports, it was more like $38 billion. Paris was 115% of costs, and it could rise from there.

INSKEEP: A mere 115%. OK. Boykoff says environmental damage caused by new construction is another problem.

BOYKOFF: The surfing took place in Tahiti this year. When they were building a special tower so that broadcasters could get the best look at the competition, the barge that they rolled in to build that tower actually rolled over and destroyed a delicate coral reef, much to the horror of locals there.

MARTÍNEZ: Meanwhile, locals are often forced to move to make way when the Olympic Games come to their city. Boykoff says the effects of those relocations can linger for years.

BOYKOFF: Twelve thousand five hundred people were displaced from the streets of Paris only in the last year, and some 77,000 people were displaced in Rio. The previous Olympics, I actually interviewed two elderly women in Tokyo who had been displaced by both the 2020 Olympics - their apartment complex was being taken over by the Games - and they were displaced by the 1964 Olympics.

INSKEEP: Wow, a twofer. Paris organizers tried to be more sustainable. For example, 95% of the venues they used were existing buildings or temporary ones, and the Olympic Village, where the athletes lived, will be turned into new apartments for an estimated 6,000 people.

MARTÍNEZ: But Boykoff says there's an easier way to make the Olympics more sustainable, and less expensive to host.

BOYKOFF: My recommendation would be that they really need to scale back the size of the event.

INSKEEP: Oh, no, don't do that, because Los Angeles will host the next Summer Games in 2028, and already, LA officials say they - well, they plan to use existing stadiums like the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl, and they do talk of expanding public transport.

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