Value of Hosting the Winter Olympics in Vancouver - Report Example

Value of Hosting the Winter Olympics in Vancouver Introduction Olympics is an international sports event which draws immense publicattention from all over the world. Winter Olympics is also similar to the normal Olympics which normally held in the winter season in every four years. The 2010 winter Olympics held in Vancouver, Canada which already caught the attention of the public not only from Canada, but from the other parts of the world. Even though only fewer countries are participating in winter Olympics, popularity of winter Olympics is not much below than the summer Olympics. Since winter season is selected for the winter Olympics, most of the items in winter Olympics would be suitable to the winter season like alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey etc. Some people believe that winter Olympics is an unnecessary event since it can diminish the popularity of the summer Olympics. On the other hand others feel that there is no harm in conducting winter Olympics just like the summer Olympics. This paper argues against the winter Olympics after analysing the arguments in favor and against in order to assess the Value of Hosting the Winter Olympics in Vancouver Value of Hosting the Winter Olympics in Vancouver Most of the events included in winter Olympics were risky events compared to the summer Olympics. The death of Georgian slider Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, because of too little and then too much snow, and unsightly chain fence was a tragedy o0f the Vancouver winter Olympics (Furlong goes on offensive against Vancouver 2010 critics). Olympics is a sports event which is meant for enjoyment. People who watch the death of a sportsman live may get agony and distress rather than enjoyment. In other words people are not getting enough returns from the winter Olympics considering the heavy amounts they forced to spend as ticket charges. Another reason which devalued the importance of winter Olympics at Vancouver is the coming London summer Olympics in 2012. Olympics keep its grace and charisma since it occurs only at an interval of four years time period. The conduction of another Olympics in between two summer Olympics’ is not a wise decision from the part of the winter Olympics organizing committee since frequent occurrence of Olympics’ may devalue the importance of Olympics. Winter Olympics is a prestigious world class event and the opportunity and ability to conduct such a world-class event will definitely improve the status of Vancouver city. At the same time many people are of the opinion that even the summer Olympics itself is a waste of money and effort. They are of the opinion that when millions of the world population struggling to get enough food and basic necessities, spending millions for the conduction of Olympics is not a wise decision. The intrusion another Olympics in the name of Winter Olympics in between the summer Olympics’ is definitely not advisable considering the huge expenditure needed to conduct an Olympics. Huge infrastructure development opportunities are there when conducting an Olympics. Vancouver has developed a lot because of the 2010 winter Olympics. Many people got employment and world class stadiums, hotels and road and communication facilities were developed around Vancouver city because of the winter Olympics. But most of the advantages of winter Olympics were short lived. People, who got the employment as part of the conduction of Olympics, lost their jobs when the event was over. World class hotels constructed for the winter Olympics became empty places, once the Olympics was over. Of course the Vancouver Olympics committee might have received a share from international Olympics committee’s broadcasting revenue and also from their own marketing efforts. But such revenues were negligible considering the actual expenses of the Vancouver winter Olympics. Another advantage of conducting an Olympics is the exposure Canadian public were able to receive from different cultures. People from different countries visited Vancouver for watching the winter Olympics which helped the locals to get more awareness about the custom, food habits and culture of the visiting people. At the same time these tourists contributed heavily to the environment pollution also. For example, tourists normally throw away plastic containers of food items and drinking water which resulted in severe environmental damages to the Vancouver city. Vancouver winter Olympics committee failed to ensure value for money and economic benefits to the cost bearing public. The public forced to pay more taxes for the successful completion of the winter Olympics expecting that the Olympics may give them better living standards in return. But the winter Olympics is over and the promises and expectations are still lying on papers only and in practice the locals got nothing in return. Failure to fulfil the expectations of the public may create problems for the future conduction of sports events in Canada. It is impossible to conduct an event like winter Olympics without causing some inconvenience to the public. Some of the local businesses needed to be displaced to develop infrastructure for the Vancouver winter Olympics. Such people expected a respectable compensation in return, but they failed. The postponement of events due to warm weather has raised many questions about the wisdom to conduct such risky sports events in bad climatic conditions in Vancouver. “One Swiss radio interviewer sarcastically asked an International Olympic Committee official why it allowed the Games to be held in a coastal region with a “Caribbean” climate” (ONeil).Moreover, the facilities arranged for the winter Olympics in Vancouver also brought many criticisms from different parts. Malfunctioning ice-resurfacing machines, a collapsed barrier at a concert that caused 20 injuries, timing errors during the biathlon, and ticket reimbursements were some of them (ONeil). Vancouver winter Olympics was labelled as the greenest Olympics ever in the history of Winter Olympics games by the media. But the warm weather and the rain forced the organizers to haul in snow via truck and helicopter. Since trucks and helicopters emit a lot of carbon, critics and protesters argued that the major objective of the winter Olympics have been lost (Meinhold). Winter Olympics in practice became summer Olympics because of the inadequate amount of snow for conducting the snow sports events. Snow is the essential requirement for conducting winter Olympics because of the increased number of snow events in winter Olympics. The cancellation of 20,000 tickets to events at Cypress Mountain put Vancouver Olympics Committee (VANOC) increasingly on the defensive. The cancelled tickets represent a loss of $1.5 million in ticket revenue (Broom). Apart from losing pride, Vancouver Olympics suffered major financial losses also because of the unexpected incidents. Olympics normally increases the fame of a city, but Vancouver failed to catch the attraction of the world because of the poor organizing of the events. Conclusions Vancouver winter Olympics failed to live up to the expectations. It failed miserably because of the poor organizing of events. Moreover the death of Georgian slider Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili will remain as the dark spot of Vancouver winter Olympics for ever. The absence of adequate snow, changing weather conditions and huge cancellation of tickets sold were some of the major drawbacks of the Vancouver winter Olympics. Most of the claims about the success of the Olympics before the start of it were melted immediately after the Olympics was over. People got nothing in return to the huge expenditure they made for the success of the Olympics. Instead of boosting the image of the city, winter Olympics resulted in spoiling the image of the Vancouver city. Works Cited 1. Broom, Jack. 2010. “Woe, Canada! Olympic Problems and Missteps Pile up”. 30 March 2010. 2. “Furlong goes on offensive against Vancouver 2010 critics”. 2010. 30 March 2010. 3. Meinhold, Bridgette. 2010. “Are the Vancouver Olympics Still Green After Trucking and Flying In Snow?”. 30 March 2010. 4. ONeil, Peter. 2010. “Hard to match the Brits scathing criticism of Vancouvers Olympics”. The Vancouver Sun. 30 March 2010. Read More