RE: Olympics - Not worth big cost

Well the world has again experienced all the "hype" of another Olympics. Hour after hour of often mundane comments such as "Canada's athlete had a nice bath and acupuncture the night before his event." Certainly there were a number of truly exciting moments as very capable athletes competed for the top spot. There were other moments when judging ruined the event and a number of athletes were either excluded from the event or had their medals taken as a result of drug use. The Olympics affect a very few athletes in the world yet cost an incredible amount of money.

Just recently, it was announced that Canada would spend approximately $20 million dollars for the Vancouver gamers for promotion. This does not include many other millions spent in the construction of facilities for the games.

Olympic proponents include those who benefit from selling land at exorbitant prices to the project, construction firms, promotion firms and many other service related businesses.

It has been reported that the Toronto bid several years ago, which fortunately failed, had a cost of $20 million, mostly from private investors. Private funds are only advanced in these situations if there is a high probability of a good payback.

The Montreal games resulted in buildings that were of little or no use and cost a fortune to construct. Most Olympic buildings are constructed in a hurry, at double or triple average costs and usually meet minimum standards at best.

Canada should have a development plan that would keep construction firms active over the long term and not have a major short term Olympic project.

Olympic projects mean a lot of money for those involved and thus there will be great pressure put on Canadian politicians to make a bid for future games to be held in Canada. Everyone should contact their federal and provincial politicians and indicate that providing funding for athletes is one thing but sponsoring the Olympics is not for Canada.

It is time that the Olympic movement chooses a few permanent sites for the games.
Bob Anderson
Shelburne