The Vancouver Olympics 4 years ago: $7 billion. Sochi: $51 billion

[cali]

When the Winter Olympics open in Sochi, Russia this Friday, it will do so as the most expensive Olympics — summer or winter — in history. The first Russian Olympiad has earned that dubious honor thanks to various factors, namely the combination of the high cost of securing an Olympics in Russia’s disputed Caucasus region, President Vladimir Putin’s desire to make the Games as extravagant as possible, and alleged corruption that has marked the construction projects around the Olympics.

Sochi’s estimated $51 billion price tag is $10 billion higher than the next most-expensive Games, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. On a per event basis, Sochi will spend five times more than the Chinese did in 2008. Take Summer Games out of the equation, and Sochi looks even worse: according to research from a Dutch newspaper, Sochi’s cost will total more than every previous Winter Olympics combined:

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http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2014/02/03/3239131/sochi-olympics-cost-winter-olympics-combined/

So please, spare me the idiotic it's cultural imperialism, reporters are just whining comments.

The real story of Sochi is about massive corruption and vile bigotry.

[FSogol]

1. True: "The real story of Sochi is about massive corruption and vile bigotry", but

remember that Vancouver already had infrastructure in place. They weren't starting from scratch.

[LisaL]

2. Exactly.

Sochi is not known for its winters sports. There was no infrastructure there whatsoever.

[exboyfil]

4. So will Sochi now become

a hot spot for winter sports and training Russian Olympic athletes given its unstable political climate. If the answer is no, then the Russians have bled themselves dry over this with no redemption in sight.

Hosting Olympics is an awful thing in my opinion. I was glad Chicago did not get one.

[B2G]

8. Which begs the question why they were selected

Idiocy.

[global1]

12. It Made Little Sense Then For The IOC To Select Sochi......

Where is Rmoney when we need him?

[Brickbat]

3. It seems to me that corruption is what sends the Games to a venue that can't handle it.

[FSogol]

6. Every large construction project has these same aspects:

behind schedule
over budget
has a lot of little incomplete items up to 6-24 months after it opens

The reporters showing curtain rods falling down, concrete floors in lobbies, and water pipes that haven't been flushed and disinfected are all things I see every day on projects. Not really shocking.

[cali]

5. it cost more than any other Olympics in HISTORY

summer or winter.

the stories of corruption are documented and numerous.

It's costing more than all the other winter olympics combined.

please let's not pretend that there isn't massive corruption.

[FSogol]

9. I agree. Probably half of that $50 billion went into various pockets.

What's the point? US taxpayers aren't footing the bill. People visiting Sochi aren't footing the bill. The athletes aren't footing the bill.

The parts that went into the Russia economy act as a stimulus. The corruption dollars funneled to oligarchs are a lost.

[Fumesucker]

7. Anti-Gay Religious Extremist Bombs Olympic Event, Cops and Media Blame Hero

Guess who, where and when.

[jsr]

10. The nomenklatura is now a kleptocracy

[bullwinkle428]

11. Logistically, this thing is an absolute fucking nightmare.

Where did all the money go?

[jsr]

13. When a 30-mi road cost $8 billion, 4 times NASA's project to send Curiosity Rover to Mars

"We have not seen any big instances of corruption in terms of the Sochi Games." - Putin