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| A Bansky original?? |
The first Olympics ever were held in Ancient Greece around 776 BC. They initially involved running, and other events were added such as boxing and wrestling, long jump, chariot racing, and discus and javelin throwing. The various States of Greece would have competitors come even in times of war with each other and would suspend fighting to compete in the Olympics.
In fact, one of the prime reasons FOR the Olympics was to keep men fit for war. It was very down & dirty and no-nonsense. Most events were done in the nude, except one type of running race in full armor (awesome). The first Olympics ruled!
Well actually, probably not. I think it's bad enough watching half naked modern MMA fighters roll around on the ground with each other, seeing fully naked hairy Greek dudes would be pretty gross. Things were brutal enough that people prolly really got fucked up and hurt, I imagine the boxing was bare-knuckle and not with cushy gloves and so forth. People prolly even died..just think of Roman Gladiators and all that..it wasn't too far off from it.
Yet what I am to venture to say is that for all that brutalness, it's probably not much better how the Olympics evolved today. The modern day version still sucks, mostly for different reasons.
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| What the fuck is this?!?! Seriously. |
The first reason the Olympics suck is the very predictable MONEY and corporate influence. It has grown way too huge and expensive. Let's look at a quick version of the process. The International Olympic Committee picks a host city, right. Money is raised to hold the Olympics by the committee. This is accomplished mainly through selling tickets and licensed merchandise (aka tacky crap like mugs and hats). Also, TV and radio networks will pay them for the rights to broadcast the events. Sponsors like McDonalds and Coca Cola will pitch in money in exchange for some advertising and opportunity to sell their garbage, and other funders and donations will be made. Programs are also put in place such as minting special Olympic commemorative coins in the local currency, or Olympic stamps. The leftover money made between the cost of the raw materials and the public value of the stamp or coin will be given to the Olympic Committee. Further than that, money is not made but rather saved by electing hundreds of volunteers to participate in making the Olympics work, and making the host city and country pay for a LOT.
Any surplus money made from the Olympics is given to sports programs and similar things.
It'd be so much cooler if half the price of say a ticket went to various charities.
The International Olympic Committee will spend most of their investment on running the Olympics themselves, and spend about 10% of the money on administrative costs and other things. Now, we are talking HUNDREDS of millions of dollars after all streams of money pour in and all is said and done. I can recognize, yes, it does cost a lot to stage Olympics, but you would think almost all the money from the committee would cover the costs. This is not the case. A ton (usually the majority) of the money has to be footed by taxpayers and the host country's government itself,as kinda mentioned before.
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| Wot a shitty logo |
So let us take the current London 2012 Olympics in case. It cost 11.3 BILLION British pounds!! £9.3 billion from that is all taxpayer and British government money! The local London Olympic committee spent about £2 billion to round it out. They in turn had their money channeled in from the International Olympic Committee and local sponsors, ticket sales, and merchandise.
The gist is, the local government and taxpayers pay for all the new buildings to come up and public transportation upgrades and security and so forth. The local Olympic committee pays for the actual running of the events, and pretty much all their money more or less comes from the International Olympic Committee. The breakdown seems reasonably fair, though it'd be nice to have the International Olympic Committee pitch in for more of the share. It'd also be nice if the Olympics weren't so damn extravagant that the cost would be so extreme. Some say it's worth it as it helps local tourism and so forth, but I'd like to venture that the payoff is smaller in comparison. According to 'experts' Lloyds Banking Group, the boost for London's economy should be £16.5 billion by the year 2017.
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| They should be throwing paper money inside the flame to enhance the idea of what the spending is like... |
Ok, so you are telling me that something that cost £11.3 billion for a few weeks ALONE will make £16.5 billion after five years? It means the costs will be recouped years later for one. And who's to say they didn't just pull that number out of their ass? How many still standing Olympic venues and Olympic themed investments will be as relevant once the Olympics are over? Just say there's a giant new stadium. Are more people going to go there just because the Olympics happened there once upon a time? Or would the numbers be the same regardless? Then that just leaves you with a stadium that might as well have nothing to do with the Olympics..and for all it costs..how long to pay it off?
I'm not an expert statistician or economist, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out a fuckload of money is spent on the Olympics, much of it in extravagance, and to recoup the money may take a while. We're living in a world where the whole economy is uncertain and recessions and bailouts have been happening left and right. Many countries are all connected through trade and if one country suffers the others do in turn. Almost every country is in massive debt. Staging a large event like the Olympics is one thing, making sure it's frugal enough is clearly another.
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| Party up motherfuckers! |
What about the athletes themselves? They don't really make too much money, or so I've heard. They get to party a lot and compete for their country and maybe 'have their dreams come true' if they win a gold, silver or bronze medal. Durex, the 'Official Condom' of the Olympics, hands out free condoms for them. Because we know they all love to compete in the bonus event of sportfucking right? Target shooter for the USA Josh Lakatos has said "I've never witnessed so much debauchery in my entire life" when talking about recent festivities in London. That's right, party hard. Stay up all night. And then try to compete with a clear head and enough rest. It boils down to the individual self discipline of the athlete, I guess.
But what about the CRYBABIES? To be fair, there are probably many competitors who are not only good at what they do, but are good sports with nice attitude. However, it seems I've seen no end to people crying and bitching, because, ferfucksakes, they were 2 milliseconds/inches/(*substitute whatever measurement here) behind a bronze! It's stupid really. I may even be so bold to say these sore losers look like they are at a funeral. They should all be happy to even know they are competing among the elite of the world in their sport category. Years ago, the mechanic down the road would train hard and go for weekend runs and such and then he would have a crack at being in the Olympics! They were more amateur friendly, and to me that's more interesting. There can be more of a gap between winners and losers that way.
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| Remember this? Angel Matos kicks ref in face for giving what he thought was a bad call... |
Now, it is all so hyperspecialized that you have all these richie rich athletes (I said they might not make a ton competing in the Olympics..that doesn't mean they weren't well off to begin with) with 12 personal trainers who shave every hair off their body to minimize resistance of wind/water/whathaveyou. They probably go inside wind tunnels and get computerized scans and readouts of the possible resistance and drag created. Their equipment and clothing cost a fortune. They'll prolly accent it with 'bling' when they can. Yes, a far cry from the hardcore naked bruised and bloody Ancient Greek Olympics. I know they worked so hard to get where they are, but the odds are usually against them. Did any one of several dozen competitors really think they were the destined SOLE person to get gold? I bet so many others shoulder to shoulder with them think the same. And it's not a difference of much, the gold winner was 5 milliseconds ahead of the 7th place guy. WTF. On a different day the gold winner could be 14th place!! It doesn't mean they are much better than their competition at ALL. Some want to win so bad they will risk performance enhancing drugs and doping, which usually creates scandal. Sometimes it's not the athletes who are being scum but the judges, with allegations of bribery and cheating with actual scores and so forth. And who judges the judge?
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| Wah! Go home and put a skirt on.. |
Think of how many events there are now too. Sure, variety is nice, but it won't be long before we have Olympic pea shooting and Olympic handstand marathons. Fuck! The original events had PURPOSE, though it was usually gory. Now it's just a showoff fest to show you are good at something that is almost entirely useless in everyday life. I want to see the headlines 'Olympic Runner Makes Mad Dash To Save Child From Burning Building'. Something like that. For the most part though, seriously, what are these skills USED FOR?
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| Everyone thinks you're the shit. Except me. And millions like me. |
The Ancient Greeks put aside most of their wars to hold Olympics. We kinda do that now too, but kinda don't. Sometimes a country boycotts the Olympics because a rival is there, or they may show up and tensions do not disappear. There's a lot of political junk going on in the sidelines. Sometimes there are even threats of terrorism.
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| Trouble is the name of this London brew.... |
Who asked the local public? Many of them will be gung ho for the Olympics but many have absolutely no interest. There'll be no escape from the tacky ads and mascots and annoying kitsch, increased traffic, plowing over beautiful environmental lands, and nonstop TV coverage when you'd rather just see something else. If you're actually at the events, the corporate hold is so tight that you can only buy certain food or items from select companies. Security will be up your ass if you don't be a total compliant sheep and there's really just no room for individualistic expression, or even basic human rights. In Beijing 2008 1.5 million people were displaced just for the Olympics! In Vancouver 2010 Native land was being encroached upon for some piece of turd highway, and that's only the beginning.
I could go on and on, the Olympics really nauseate me. I can appreciate countries coming together and some friendly competition and staying fit and having fun and all that, but I think the Olympics have become bloated beyond that level and all the good stuff seems to be hiding in the shadow now created.
