Packed bars with carousing revelers spilling onto clogged streets. Takeaway booze swigged by drunken tourists and students. Earsplitting volumes in once quiet residential neighborhoods long after midnight.
27.04.2024 - 18:23 / insider.com / Winter Olympics / Summer Olympics
Forty years ago, the Yugoslavian city of Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. Many new structures were built, and the Games were seen as something of a reunion since many countries had boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow.
But six years later, the country would be thrown into turmoil during the Yugoslav Wars, which led to the fall of Yugoslavia. Sarajevo became the capital of a new country, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1992, but the fighting didn't end until 2001.
During the fighting, Olympic venues became battlegrounds, as ski slopes were heavily mined and hotels were turned into prisons.
While Sarajevo's story is singular, it's not the only former Olympics host city where venues now resemble ghost towns. Olympics host countries famously pour billions of dollars into building new venues, which sometimes fall into disrepair after the crowds have gone home.
Paris, which is hosting this year's summer Olympics, is aiming to avoid this costly mistake: 95% of the venues are already underway or will use existing locations that only need minor updates, Reuters reported in March, citing a report by credit rating agency S&P Global.
Here's what the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic venues look like in 2024.
Packed bars with carousing revelers spilling onto clogged streets. Takeaway booze swigged by drunken tourists and students. Earsplitting volumes in once quiet residential neighborhoods long after midnight.
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