Are the 2010 Vancouver Olympics still happening? Are you kidding me?!?! WHY? What the Laura Secord is going on here?!?!!?
In a time of economic downturn, when bankruptcy and job loss are rampant isn't it shocking that we are still going ahead with the Olympics?
Typically they cost millions of dollars and the hosting city ends up paying the price for years to come.
There are few exceptions and despite claims from certain cities some experts say that NO Olympic Games have made a profit in modern times.
MONTREAL, 1976: Debt:>1 billion (globe and mail; abcnews.com)
LAKE PLACID, 1980: Debt: $11 million
CALGARY, 1988: Debt: $910 million (they claim a profit)
BARCELONA, 1992: Debt: US$1.4 billion
SYDNEY, 2000: Games billed as self-financing by politicians were a $2.3-billion loss (Auditor General New South Wales Report on Sydney (2000) Olympics)
This is absolute insanity! We all know that money spent on ANY Olympics would be better spent in about a million different ways.
If it's really that important for amateur athletes to win medals they can come do hurdles over crack pipes and heroin needles in my back alley. Whoever doesn't land on drug paraphernalia gets a chocolate coin wrapped in gold tin foil.
If you want to know who has the right idea about the Olympics check with Prague. They're pulling out of the bid for the 2020 games because they know it would cost too much money! Money that no one has right now. Money that should go to making sure we have a social and economic future, not building an Olympic Center so your sister can become an expert on the uneven bars!
Prague are realists.
Jay