We all see the Olympics as a beautiful event where the world peacefully comes together to enjoy many sporting events. The key word being “peacefully”, one we don’t really hear often in today’s world. About 7 years before each Olympic game the next host city is decided, the next games being winter which will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea. The next summer games will be held in Tokyo, and the 2022 winter games will be in Beijing. Yes, as you can recall they held the summer games in 2008.The International Olympic committee has very strict rules for the building of stadiums, travel and housing for the athletes. In the case of Sochi, here as some rather disturbing facts of what went on..
In order to satisfy the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Sochi had to plow over and push thousands of residents from their homes in order to make room for Olympic venues such as the Opening ceremony arena. The Olympics are supposed to be amazing for the city that holds them, it’s said that it will bring in so much money and jobs for everyone. The vibes around the games are as if everyone is so excited and in high spirits..or that’s how the media portrays it. No part of pushing people out of their homes projects the idea from the media that everyone is so happy about the games.
After watching videos in my Olympics class, it seems clear that NBC is exposing the ugly side of the games. There were first-hand reports from an architect who witnessed a major lack in safety precautions the workers faced. The female architect mentioned how the people who worked on building the Venues were illegal immigrants..forced to work for little or no pay, although they were promised pay. She also hit on the fact that their passports were taken, so they couldn’t even leave no matter how bad they wanted to. In reality, the workers became slaves to the Russian Olympic committee who was in charge of building and putting the Olympics on. Workers worked from extreme heights and had no safety harnesses, it was estimated hundreds of illegal immigrant workers fell and died because there were no safety harnesses.
Let’s get into the money aspect of the games, the cost of these games is staggering if you are standing I urge you to sit down for this. The Sochi Olympic games cost MORE THAN ALL THE OTHER WINTER GAMES IN HISTORY COMBINED. The total cost for the games was $51 Billion, including $6.5 Billion for building roads and power plants to support the games according to the IOC website. According to first-hand accounts of the games, Vladamir Putin rerouted the tasks for the games to his friends. What other way to build the Olympics like having your closest friends build it for you, and having the money flow back to them.
In conclusion of the games, don’t always believe what you see on TV about the games. Not to say the games are all terrible, but do your research before you come to conclusions. For all of those affected by the creation of the games, we show respect to them.