Olympics Host Cities Don’t Belong on a Warming Planet

That means the audience numbers and income that support the financial outlays for the Olympics and Paralympicsare moving from the rich, temperate countries that typically host the event, to increasingly tropical and middle-income locations...

Its promised to make future Gamesmore environmentally andfinancially sustainable, repurposing existing sporting venues, even furniture in the athletes village,and using some creative accounting to suggest that carbon footprints havebeen drastically cut..

If you want to extend the Olympics to developing countries without saddling them with costly equestrian centers, rowing lakes, and sailing marinas luxuriesfor minority sports, even in rich countries then allow those events to live permanently in the largely European countries that already have the venues..

Host cities can then be used primarily for the core athleticevents that people care about the most.. Paris is already making a few steps in this direction with a surfing contest thats being held16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles) away in Tahiti, though it would be better to drop the event, and its super-remote location, altogether..

If future events limited athlete numbers to 5,000 (about half the current level),athletes could continue to compete in their various world championships and few viewers wouldeven notice but the cost, both to the climate and to city budgets, would be drastically reduced.The only way to make the Olympicsmore sustainable is to spread them out and make them smaller...

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