What abandoned Olympic venues from around the world look like today

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

We’re one year removed from the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

While the Games were a success from a competitive standpoint, Rio’s facilities frequently came under fire. The Olympic Village was called “uninhabitable,” while a ramp at the sailing venue was destroyed by 10-foot waves – and that was before the competition even started.

With each passing Olympics, more and more cities around the world are starting to question whether hosting the Olympics is worth it.

Most cities simply do not have the infrastructure required to withstand the two-week influx of athletes, coaches, fans, and media members. The money required to build state-of-the-art athletic facilities is soaring, and academic research suggests that spending billions on a two-week event is not a wise investment.

In the worst-case scenario for host cities, Olympic venues go unused after the games and become white elephants — total wastes of space and money. We’ve seen this at Olympic sites around the world.

Of course, the reasons this happens are specific to each country. Sarajevo, for example, suffered from a gruesome war that caused the 1984 Winter Olympic venues to crumble. Nevertheless, these photos from Reuters, Getty Images, and others have become symbolic of the downside of hosting the Olympics.

Will the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang follow a similar path?

Emmett Knowlton contributed to this report.