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After all of the fanfare, celebration, and ceremonies, once every last athlete, spectator, and official has returned home and the Olympic flame has been put out, it is often only the stadiums, sports facilities, and athletes' villages that remain as the only reminder of the Olympic legacy of a given host city. In the spirit of the current Rio 2016 Olympics, we at SkyriseCities are taking a look back at the architectural legacies of four Olympic Games from the past 120 years.
Athens 1896
Revived after a 1500-year hiatus, the Modern Olympics were begun in Athens, in the ancient Greek capital where the Games originated. While ancient ruins and other historic marvels were often discovered during the redevelopment and expansion of modern cities, the timing of the 1896 Athens Olympics fell squarely within the late Victorian high period of public fascination with human history and antiquity. Fittingly, following the 1869 unearthing of the ancient Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, which dated to at least 566 BC, the 60,000-capacity stadium was refurbished in marble cladding and made ready for modern competitions and sporting events.
By the time of the 1896 Olympics, the stadium had been used for various pre-cursor events for a quarter century, the shape and size of the ancient stadium the perfect venue for an event of international proportions. While just 241 athletes from 14 nations competed in 43 events, the first Modern Olympics were a roaring success, kickstarting a global phenomenon of friendly competition that has continued to this day. Today, the Panathenaic Stadium remains very much as it appeared in 1896, its re-use in the 2004 Athens Olympics a testament to its staying power, a rarity among Olympic venues and facilities, which are more often than not abandoned and left to decay.
Berlin 1936
Easily one the most controversial Olympic Games in modern history, the 1936 Berlin Summer Games were held within the epicentre of Nazi Germany against the backdrop of the Third Reich's obsession over racial supremacy and claims to global domination. Produced for the occasion of the Games, German propagandist and iconic filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl shot her masterpiece, Olympia, which captured the celebratory mood and athletic highlights of the 1936 Olympics. Many of the director's pioneering methods and angles are still used today for modern televised sporting events and competitions.
Not to be outdone by the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, Berlin built a series of impressive stadiums and sports fields , the magnificence of which could not be overstated, especially given the unique propagandistic opportunity provided by the fact that these were to be the first televised games. Most famous of all the structures was the Olympiastadion Berlin (Berlin Olympic Stadium), which was the main stadium and the one most often featured in historic films and photographs. Following the war, the Nazi-built, 75,000-capacity stadium was taken under British control throughout the entirety of the Cold War Era. The decision to save and refurbish the stadium happened roughly a decade following German Reunification, with work completed in time for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Today, the Olympiastadion remains as a premier sports and concert venue, its exterior architecture little changed with the obvious exception of the removal of all Nazi-related iconography and the addition of a partial roof added during the 2000s-era retrofit.
Sarajevo 1984
Following the controversy of the 1980 Moscow Summer Games, in which 65 countries followed the American decision to boycott the Games in light of the USSR's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games were the first Winter Olympic Games to be held within a Communist state. The occasion was marked by a much more peaceful atmosphere, with all major nations and many newcomers participating together in the name of friendly competition. In preparation for the Games, the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia oversaw the construction of a series of impressive, mostly poured- and precast-concrete stadiums, venues, and sports facilities, many of which were either destroyed or badly damaged by the Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War that took place between 1992 and 1995. Those that survived have since been left to decay, open to the elements and to destruction by vandals, remaining today as a popular site for urban explorers.
Among the most photographed of Sarajevo's Olympic ruins are those of the Olympic Park, especially the remains of the heavily dilapidated bobsled and luge track, which have become overgrown and covered in graffiti. Pictured below, the track has since become a popular destination for urban explorers and daredevils, who have been known to ride BMX bikes down the abandoned track, while others appear content to make their mark with spray paint and chalk. Above, the ruins of the former Ski Chalet can be made out, with much of its structure exposed to the elements.
Beijing 2008
At an estimated cost of $40 billion USD, the 2008 Beijing Summer Games were the costliest Olympic Games to date, blowing past the previous record set by Athens in 2004, which had spent a then-unprecedented $15 billion on their Games just four years prior. Centred around the construction of the 90,000-capacity, $425 million Beijing National Stadium, known as "The Bird's Nest," the national dedication to making the 2008 Summer Games the biggest, and boldest in recent memory was not unnoticed, the global attention garnered by China's exceptional efforts in terms of Olympic-based construction and preparation setting a new gold standard. Reports of wind generation stations being employed in an effort to clean the notoriously smoggy air, along with a temporary ban on local industrial emissions made international headlines, while China had an exceptional performance at the Games themselves, both in competition,and with the presentation of the spectacular Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
Despite the massive costs and impressive production of one stunning state-of-the-art Olympic venue after another, much of Beijing's Olympic legacy has been left fallow, with several stadiums and sports facilities abandoned to the elements. In particular, the baseball stadium, volleyball stadium, and several outdoor water sport facilities have been left to decay, their fixtures slowly falling apart, their once finely manicured grounds overgrown beyond recognition. Below, the Volleyball Stadium sits in a state of advanced disrepair, its exterior covered in graffiti, with exposed railings and staircases already beginning to rust.
Wherever one may stand on the importance of the Olympic Games, it cannot be denied that the exceptional efforts that host nations expend to build the Olympic venues, and to thus boost their global prestige, are thoroughly impressive in their own right. Hence, while the Rio Olympics continue, and the drama of elite sport plays out on the track, field, and swimming pool, one can only wonder what will become of Brazil's much publicized efforts to pull off one of the most haphazard Games preparations in recent memory.
