What has happened to the Olympic venues from the 2004 Athens Olympics is the nightmare scenario for Sochi.
Unlike the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic venues, which were destroyed during the Bosnian War, there was no catastrophic event that led to the abandonment of the Athens arenas.
Greece simply has no use for world-class, expensive-to-maintain venues for niche sports like softball, beach volleyball, or even swimming.
They became useless immediately after the Olympics left town.
As a result, a decade after Greece spent ~$15 billion to stage the games, some of these once-gleaming venues are crumbling.
businessinsider.com
Unlike the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic venues, which were destroyed during the Bosnian War, there was no catastrophic event that led to the abandonment of the Athens arenas.
Greece simply has no use for world-class, expensive-to-maintain venues for niche sports like softball, beach volleyball, or even swimming.
They became useless immediately after the Olympics left town.
As a result, a decade after Greece spent ~$15 billion to stage the games, some of these once-gleaming venues are crumbling.
The softball stadium.
A ruined fountain in the Olympic Village.
The Olympic beach volleyball arena.
REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis
Weeds where the world's best volleyball players once competed.
REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis
Frogs live in the training pool at the Olympic Village.
A training pool is left murky at the Olympic Village.
A health hazard.
The field hockey venue.
An archery target in a pile of crowd control barriers.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Unused flagpoles above a dirty reflecting cool in the complex.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
A rust-covered stairway at the Olympic Games Complex.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
The diving pool at the Olympic Aquatic Center.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Broken concrete outside the Olympic taekwondo stadium.
REUTERS/John Kolesidis
The volleyball stadium has been fenced off.
REUTERS/John Kolesidis
Some of the abandoned venues are padlocked, or surrounded by barbed wire.
REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis
The rusty seats at the Olympic baseball stadium.
A statue outside OAKA Sports Hall.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
The VIP walkway above the indoor pool.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Graffiti on the OAKA sports hall.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Fencing outside the OAKA sports hall.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Weeds grow around payphones.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
The empty promenade at the Olympic Games Complex.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
A swastika on the side of the bathrooms in the Olympic Games Complex.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Graffiti on the front of the velodrome.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
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