Rio de Janeiro spent approximately $4.6 billion to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Six months later, and just four months after the end of the Paralympic Games, the city’s Olympic infrastructure is completely falling apart.
Over the weekend, Brazilian outlet O Globo published video footage of various Olympic venues, which are abandoned and decrepit. According to O Globo, limited security has resulted in theft of materials, and ceilings are falling in. Other venues appear simply to not have received any necessary upkeep whatsoever. Even the famed Maracana, Rio’s Olympic stadium, is currently without power as city officials argue over who should pay the electricity bills.
Most shocking is a warm up pool, which has turned orange.
Globo
O Globo reports that mud, insects, and rain water have all contributed to the jarring color. The tiles in the background of the shot, which were made by Brazilian artist Adriana Varejao, have reportedly either fallen down or been taken.
For comparison, here is that same pool (from a different angle) over the summer:
Al Bello/Getty
And what the building housing the competition pools looked like.
Buda Mendes/Getty Images
Murky water has pooled in other parts of Olympic Park, too:
O Globo
Here are the ceilings:
O Globo
During the Olympics, the pools were a source of great frustration as they turned different, but equally unpleasant shades of green. Ironically, the pools turned out to be more prone to diseases than the sewage-infested waters in the bay that were so scandalous leading up to the games.
The argument against hosting the Olympics has always been that it simply doesn’t make any sense to pour billions of dollars into sporting venues that will most likely have no use after the two-week spectacle ends.
From Athens to Beijing, abandoned Olympic venues are commonplace. Rio is the latest example — at least until the next Olympics.