Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Rio 2016 The Third World Olympic - Should Developing Countries be Allowed to Host Major Sporting Events


Initially developed country were awarded the privilege to host these big sporting events, however in recent years the sporting federations are awarding the events to developing regions 

Every time there big sporting events are being staged by any country other than G8, we hear the same story. 

The venues will not be ready, the hotels and the game village accommodation will not meet the acceptable standards and security will be a nightmare visitors will be robbed, raped and murdered

Till the last minute there are speculations, half build stadiums and shown on TV, Questions are asked, will the venue be ready, would the games be cancelled this year, would star player still dare to come amid the chaos.

Then in the end it looks like the venues are ready and food quality is good. The games village standard is uoto the mark and the the games start and they are spectacular,

The focus shifts, now we start questioning the need to spend so much money in a country where so many people live in so much poverty, and how this money could have been used in other social causes.The media would show poverty and the filth and poor people on the streets and would compare the sparkling stadiums, and how the government spent on these majestic stadiums while ignoring the poor people.

This story has been repeated many times, many people still ask did the World Cup Wreck South Africa, Commonwealth games In India was marred with delays and corruption scandals, Caribbean hosting the cricket world cup, African Cup of Nations in Ghana.

No matter where they happen almost a similar story prevailed.  The games have never been financially beneficial to the host nations and costs have ballooned to unprecedented levels. Reading about the the horrible stories tourists usually do not go to the countries to watch the games, India expected approx 1 million tourist from around the world for the Commonwealth games, but less than 10,000 showed up.

Although there might be some benefits in terms of improved infrastructure for the host nations , but it becomes too much for the societies of the developing nations to bear and see the resource that could have been used to elevate current social problems being spent on games village and stadiums.

Which the upcoming events such as Glasgow staging the 2014 CWG and  Brazil both the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, My best wishes to both the countries for successfully hosting the events however the question remains  should the third world countries be allowed to host these events?

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