Charles E. Morrison

Opinion | Time to share Olympic glory with the Global South

As the risks of hosting the Olympics increase, modern solutions can help make the Games safer, cheaper and more accessible to other countries

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Charles E. Morrison

Published: 5:30am, 12 Aug 2024

By almost every measure, the Paris Summer Olympics have been a stunning success, signalling a post-pandemic return to the normality of stadium fans and attracting celebrities from around the world to a gorgeous, world-famous location. And, most importantly, we have been able to admire dazzling performances by the world’s best athletes from countries as tiny as St Lucia and as populous as India and China.

Nonetheless, shadows loom over the Games: their cost, security and lack of truly global character. Changes are needed to reduce vulnerabilities and diversify, thus increasing the opportunities for cities of the Global South to host the Games.

The Paris Olympics have been relatively cheap by recent standards, with an estimated US$10 billion cost – only 25 per cent above original estimates, compared with more than triple and double the original budgets for the more expensive Tokyo and Rio Games respectively. Thanks to the vigilance of French security personnel, Paris has been safe despite efforts to sabotage the country’s high-speed railway.

However, in contemporary times, the price tag for an average Olympics is likely to deter most cities or countries, even rich ones. Any international gathering of this size also becomes an obvious target for terrorist groups, even ones having no grievance against the host city, as was the case in Munich in 1972.

Moreover, a disaster, like the Covid-19 pandemic or an extreme weather event can mean that most of the benefits of host countries’ investments are lost, like Tokyo’s were. With climate change, we can expect more disasters.

The costs and risks have resulted in hosts being almost exclusively clustered in richer countries. Northeast Asia and Australia have joined traditional summer host sites in Europe and North America, but no Olympics have been held in Southeast Asia, South Asia or Africa. Only one has been hosted in South America. Brisbane had little competition to its offer to host the 2032 Summer Games, as did Salt Lake City for the 2034 Winter Games. Commentators wryly noted that the Olympic organisers needed these cities more than the cities needed the Olympics.