Paris is hosting a more cost-effective Olympics

July 30, 2024 - For decades, potential host cities have looked at the ballooning costs of the Olympic Games and backed away. Paris 2024, and a less stringent IOC, has changed all that.

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Olympic Wrestling

Olympic BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle events

Olympic triathlon course

Olympic Athletics – Heptathlon / Decathlon

Olympic Volleyball

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Paris 2024 Olympic Stadia

Olympic Judo

Weightlifting at the Paris Olympics

Olympic Rowing

Olympic Table Tennis

Olympic Skateboarding

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Olympic Surfing

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has changed its tack on implementing the Games in host cities around the world.

Rather than cajole a city into adapting to the demands of the Games, such as new stadiums that often lie dormant after the event has finished, the IOC is now allowing the Games to adapt to a city – a 180 degree about-turn.

For decades, potential host cities such as Calgary, Innsbruck and Hamburg have balked at the ballooning costs of the Olympics and pulled out of bidding to host the event.

Facing an ever-shrinking pool of candidate cities, the IOC has decided to impose less demanding requirements on potential hosts, allowing the reuse of existing venues for events rather than pushing for new costly arenas to be built.

Paris 2024, with its abundance of pre-existing city centre locales being used to house events, is a test case for the new policy. A policy that has allowed them to host the Summer Games for an estimated $8.7 billion – around 36% less than Tokyo in 2021, or 63% less than Rio 2016.