Time to share Olympic glory with the Global South

The Paris Olympics have been relatively cheap by recent standards, with an estimated US$10 billion cost – only 25 per cent above original estimates, compared with more than triple and double the original budgets for the more expensive Tokyo and Rio Games respectively. Thanks to the vigilance of French security personnel, Paris has been safe despite efforts to sabotage the country’s high-speed railway.

However, in contemporary times, the price tag for an average Olympics is likely to deter most cities or countries, even rich ones. Any international gathering of this size also becomes an obvious target for terrorist groups, even ones having no grievance against the host city, as was the case in Munich in 1972.

The costs and risks have resulted in hosts being almost exclusively clustered in richer countries. Northeast Asia and Australia have joined traditional summer host sites in Europe and North America, but no Olympics have been held in Southeast Asia, South Asia or Africa. Only one has been hosted in South America. Brisbane had little competition to its offer to host the 2032 Summer Games, as did Salt Lake City for the 2034 Winter Games. Commentators wryly noted that the Olympic organisers needed these cities more than the cities needed the Olympics.

What can be done? For the much larger Summer Olympics, it has been suggested to build a permanent location, like for the classical Greek games, held every four years for centuries in Olympia with its stadium that could seat tens of thousands. In ancient Greece, the event was a religious ceremony where the athletic competitions honoured Zeus, king of the gods, and named for his abode on Mount Olympus. Local wars were suspended to allow athletes to attend.

It’s not that the