The Olympic Park of 2008 that we all watched feverishly obsessively on TV from a distance, was all drama, flare and extravagance. Do you remember the Opening Ceremonies!?!
So when I ventured out to the Park (via the new subway line that was built specifically for the games) I expected to be dazzled.
While the structures were just as towering and spectacular as I had imagined, I was underwhelmed.
The space felt empty, dead, abandoned. And it was for the most part. There weren’t even the throngs of people that I had come to expect at every tourist attraction in the city.
It seemed like an utter waste. I mean how much money did China invest in building this place?? Four billion? And now it just sits there; a empty space of concrete and steel.
I couldn’t help but feel the lunacy of it. In a nation where millions of people have been displaced by natural disasters and killed by pollution and hundreds of millions more live in poverty, the powers that be chose to throw money at an event to showprove their power and importance.
And now that the show’s over, the problems are still there and the glorious global stage is a metaphorical vacant parking lot.
It is however, a prime spot for kite vendors. So hey, that’s job creation right?
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I absolutely, totally agree with you. I have felt the same sense of wasted resources and space when I’ve visited other Olympic parks around the world.
I love the Olympics but I agree completely. There isn’t any country that can really afford to be throwing away resources like they have to in order to host an Olympics. It would be much better, in my opinion, to eliminate the expensive competitions to try and “win” the right to host the Olympics and rotate the games instead through cities which have the facilities already in place.
The best use of an Olympic facility I’ve seen was actually in Helsinki…the stadium is now a hostel and local high schools use the fields and pools for practices.
You forgot to mention all the attention yourself and Lara got!! And no, I do not want a kite.