December 15, 2021 [he/his; 12 years old]

SHOULD THE OLYMPIC GAMES BE CONTINUED?

During the Pandemic, many changes occurred. No restaurants, no sporting events, and so much more. One of these major changes was the announcement that the Olympics would not take place in 2020. After one dreadful year, the Olympics came and everyone was fired up. In some countries, vaccines were starting to be available and life started to return to more in person events. But Tokyo was going through a hard time. In 2021, Japan was running low on medical supplies and Covid was spreading at a faster rate. People in Japan were against the Olympics. So why were the Olympics held even though there were so many problems with it?

The Olympic games are the center of attention when they get announced. The Summer Olympics are every four years, and multiple countries bring people together to play sports like wrestling, surfing, volleyball, baseball, etc. Since it only happens every four years, people are interested in watching it. However, it isn’t all pretty. Behind the scenes, there are consequences for holding the Olympics like the cost of running the Olympics. These problems need to be changed so that the Olympics become less detrimental to the cities and countries hosting them. The Olympics cannot continue the way they are functioning; they need to benefit the people living in the city they’re held in.

The cities that host the Olympics are harmed because of the economic and structural impact it has on its citizens. Too often, the cities that host the Olympics waste money by destroying old buildings that host people and replacing them with new buildings. For example, in Rio they had already been planning on improving the infrastructure of many buildings when they were told that they were going to be hosting the Olympics. Due to this, the city of Rio rushed to make the “village” the athletes would live in. There were major plumbing and electrical problems that needed to be dealt with. The citizens were angry because even when they had their own problems, they saw that their government was providing for foreign athletes and failed to provide them with basic plumbing and electricity. Another situation of cities being ruined by the Olympics was during the Tokyo Olympics. Hosting the Olympics cost Tokyo at least 15.4 billion dollars, making it the most expensive summer Olympics hosted. Tokyo had expected to make 12 million yen or 109 billion dollars from the foreign spectators that would watch them compete. However, because there were no spectators, they did not make that much money. The Olympics already cost a lot of money. But if Japan had tourists in person to watch the Tokyo Olympics, they could have produced some revenue from that and pay off the costs of making the Olympics possible. Tokyo did not profit from the Olympics and because of that their economy was not as good as they anticipated and changed multiple plans. The cities that host the Olympics experience their economy suffer from destroying and rebuilding new infrastructure for the Olympics.

Whenever an Olympics is held in a country, that country will get a lot of attention. This is very helpful for much smaller countries to represent themselves and show the world that they exist. However, since the Olympics give a country so much attention, a country that is poor might try to hide neighborhoods that are poor and trashed. An example of this is in Rio de Janeiro during 2016. To prevent tourists from discovering poor neighborhoods, they built a wall on a highway to prevent people seeing the state of a broken town. Essentially they are preventing people from seeing other people. It shows that a country does not care about their people and wants to isolate their people from the public. When a country has a poor section of a neighborhood, it is their job to fix it with the money they have. But when millions of dollars are being spent for a sporting event rather than the poor who need it the most, it shows that a country cares more about publicity and fame rather than its people. The Olympics make some countries with human rights issues the spotlight for hosting the Olympics when they could give the spotlight to a country that is not well known, but respects human rights.

The patriotic reasons why the Olympics should continue may sound good on paper, but there are many flaws that are hidden. People who live in their country are usually patriotic and proud to live there. When they hear that their country is hosting an international competition that only takes place every 4 or 2 years, they would be pretty proud of what their country can do. Even though pride is a good thing to have, it can get people to block their judgement. During 2016, Iran's weight lifting athlete broke the world record for lifting, but it was voided. This led to protesters hacking the International Weightlifting Federation website and shut it down for a couple of days. At the end of the day, it is just a game. Hacking a website because your favorite athlete did not get his score validated is not the end of the world. It is illegal and wrong to do a sport. To be prideful is one thing. Being a bad sport and a criminal is another.

Having diversity in sports is important, but when diversity turns into conflict it is a whole new issue. When the Olympics are held, many people from different backgrounds and countries meet face to face and compete against each other with respect. Some countries that compete against each other could be political enemies, but because of the Olympics they can face each other knowing that they are only playing for games. However, when the Olympics were going to be hosted in 1980, the Soviet Union was going to be hosting them. Multiple countries were angry that it was going to be held in Russia because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Even though these events happened 40 years ago, it shows that countries who are enraged at each other have the chance to strike at vulnerable people. In most cases, countries that participate in the Olympics do not fight each other very often, but countries are always going to have political turmoil. When a country hosts the Olympics, nobody should hope that two countries will not cause any chaos even though they have tension. Making sure that a major problem will not occur is better than hoping that nothing bad happens. Yes, having people from different backgrounds is good, but not when those different backgrounds start fighting over sports and their own political problems.

These reasons show why the Olympics should not continue the way it is. The Olympics as a whole is a good idea. However, the way it is run is faulty. The conflicts that can occur due to the Olympics can last for multiple years before being solved. There are multiple ways to change the Olympics. But the only way to have a major impact is by speaking out. Eventually, with commitment, dedication, and determination there will be a change to make sure the Olympics does not damage a country’s economy and people.

The Olympics damage a city and a country's economy because of its requirements for having an Olympics. However, there is a way to counter this. They could choose a stadium that is already built in the country to make the costs to host the Olympics lower. Cities that have stadiums know how to handle them. Making a country build a stadium for one sporting event only to never use it again is not reasonable. They should plan for hotels that would host athletes. Although building hotels close to a stadium for easy access is good for the athletes, it is worse for the people who lose their homes because of the hotels. They should schedule taxi companies to drive athletes to the stadium. Putting Athletes in hotels that are farther away from a stadium can be solved with a designated time for all the athletes to be picked up by buses or taxis to go to a stadium. These are simple ways to improve the Olympics structurally and economically. These are easier said than done though. However, the Olympics should be changed to benefit both the people and the country hosting them.

The Olympic committee chooses where to have the Olympics. When they choose a certain country that is known for being oppressive under a dictatorship, it puts them in the spotlight and creates massive political problems. Choosing a country should be based on respecting free speech, respecting human rights, and respecting people’s religious beliefs. There would be less conflict with other countries and the Olympics would become more of what it was meant to do: an event to bring countries together.

If the Olympics solved all of its major problems, over time there would be less tension over it and bring a time of political peace between all countries for a couple of days. The Olympics can be changed if all the countries come to a mutual agreement over what the process a country should go through in order to host an Olympics. Overall, the Olympics should be a fun event if we go through the process of making it better.