Olympic Gigantism and the Multifaceted Concept of Sports Venues

Author: Melina Giannakopoulou (University of Peloponnese, Greece)
Year: 2020
Source type: chapter (in Cultural and Tourism Innovation in the Digital Era, Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics)
Raw file: raw/articles/giannakopoulou-2020-olympic-gigantism-sports-venues.md

Summary

This paper examines the dramatic growth in Olympic Games scale — termed "Olympic gigantism" — from the early small editions to contemporary mega-events requiring massive venue infrastructure. Giannakopoulou traces how the Games evolved from Baron de Coubertin's romantic "panegyris" (democratic, intercultural assembly) to a vehicle for urban change and national image projection. Key factors driving gigantism include: expansion of sports/disciplines/events, competing nations and athletes, media coverage, security requirements, and the Paralympic Games integration. The paper discusses how venues are increasingly built as "flagships" — iconic constructions for city rebranding — but warns against the "monument complex" of hallmark decision-making that overrides rational planning. The IOC's 2001-2003 Olympic Games Study Commission made 117 recommendations to contain growth, but most were ignored or opposed by stakeholders.

Key Claims

• Original conception: "According to the initial conception of Baron Pierre de Coubertin the Olympic Games encompassed the romantic notion of a 'panegyris', in the sense of a democratic, intercultural assembly and an all-nations inclusive 'pan-artistic gathering'" (Gold and Gold 2013). Modern adaptation: "a festival based on the twin pillars of sport and culture that was intended to bring people from all around the world together."

• Gigantism defined: "The immense growth in popularity and the universal acceptance of the Olympic ideals has led, amongst others, to an increase in all aspects of Games participation, organization, complexity and cost. Increases in the number of sports, disciplines and events, as well as competing nations, athletes and attending media, have led to a quadrupling in numbers and requirements in all Games-related areas."

• Affected areas: "These increases have affected not only the number of technical officials, workforce, security, volunteers, accommodation and transport, but most notably the number and size of venues and their standards."

• Early Olympics were small: "According to Guttmann (2002) the early editions of the Olympic Games were relatively small, not only regarding participation numbers, but also in regards to the infrastructure used, since financial resources were scarce." Three consecutive Olympics after Athens (Paris 1900, St. Louis 1904, London 1908) were held in conjunction with World's Fairs due to financial constraints and lack of proper venues.

• Early host city attitude: "Influenced by the ideals of Olympism and the spiritual dimension of the Games, early host cities valued the event for the prestigious honor bestowed upon them and saw them not as a financial opportunity rather than a source of pride and inspiration." "It was considered inappropriate to glory in what the Games would do for the city rather for sport and the pleasure of its citizens" (McIntosh 2003, via Gold and Gold 2011).

• Turning point — post-Austerity: "The dramatic change came after the ending of the period of Austerity, when organizers, from the Olympics in Rome in 1960 and onwards, realized that the Games could be used as 'a vehicle for change', and thus Games-related developments could be integrated into broader plans of long-awaited urban projects" (Gold and Gold 2013).

• National identity projection: Over time, the Games became a way "to propagate potent imagery of national identity" (e.g., Berlin 1936) (Gold and Gold 2013).

• Growth factors:

  1. Universalism and inclusion: IOC began to allow athletes from not-yet-recognized NOCs to participate as "independent athletes" (e.g., South Sudan at London 2010)
  2. Regional sports addition: New sports with regional appeal added to increase TV audiences (ping-pong, taekwondo for Asia; handball for Scandinavia)
  3. Youth appeal: New disciplines like beach volleyball and snowboarding aimed to attract younger audiences
  4. Women's participation: "From the Atlanta 1996 Olympics to the Sydney 2000 Olympics 23 new women's events were added to the competition schedule, including women's weightlifting and women's water polo"
  5. Paralympic integration: From Seoul 1988 onwards, Paralympic Games start ~2 weeks after Olympic Closing Ceremony; "along with the 26 Olympic sports, 20 Paralympic sports needed to be staged, either in the same or in specially designed venues"

• IOC recognition of problem: "Already since 2000 the IOC Coordination Commission for the Sydney Olympic Games noted in its final report that measures will have to be taken to control the future growth of the Games, which must not be allowed to grow any larger, otherwise they will present a major risk that if not well managed and controlled may result in IOC becoming a victim of its own success."

• Olympic Games Study Commission: "One of Jacques Rogge's first actions, upon taking up the IOC presidency in 2001, was to set up the Olympic Games Study Commission to examine the scale and scope of the Olympics and propose solutions to manage and contain their size and inherent complexity." In 2003, commission published report with 117 recommendations in five areas: "Games Format, Venues and Facilities, Games Management, Number of Accredited Persons and Service Levels" — but "for the most part were either ignored or opposed by Olympic stakeholders."

• Venue standards drive costs: "The pursuit for state of the art venues and the requirement to meet all the necessary standards of each specific sport are also to be accounted in the increase of both the cost and the size of the Games." Artificial courses for canoe/kayak and cycling tracks are "far more expensive than simple venues for judo or fencing, and more difficult to be converted for future uses."

• Monument complex: "Some scholars suggest that the root cause of the rising construction costs can be traced to the construction of iconic and luxurious facilities with no feasibility studies, careful master planning or post-Games demand analysis. The temptation to display innovative designs and construction methods has been described as 'hallmark decision making' and is evident in situations where rational decision-making processes, regarding venue costs and future uses, get overridden due to decision makers' 'monument complex'."

• Flagship definition: "In its literal meaning the term 'flagship' means the most powerful ship of a fleet, which carries the commanding admiral. Beyond the naval realm the term is used to define the best or most prominent product, building, service etc., among a general group. In the construction industry a flagship development is a prestigious project which aims at regional renewal."

• Flagships in mega-events: "In the context of mega-events a flagship constitutes an iconic construction which is meant to be a landmark, seeking not only urban renewal but also the promotion and projection of a city's image and identity, tied into aggressive city-rebranding campaigns."

• Flagship scrutiny: "However, the heavily underused flagships built for mega-events such as World Expos, Olympic Games and World Cups caused this formula to come under scrutiny."

Connections

Debates: spectacle-vs-function
Related source notes: mahmoud-2014-iconic-architecture-publicizing-cities, sklair-towards-understanding-architectural-iconicity

Direct Quotes

"The immense growth in popularity and the universal acceptance of the Olympic ideals has led, amongst others, to an increase in all aspects of Games participation, organization, complexity and cost."

"The dramatic change came after the ending of the period of Austerity, when organizers, from the Olympics in Rome in 1960 and onwards, realized that the Games could be used as 'a vehicle for change', and thus Games-related developments could be integrated into broader plans of long-awaited urban projects."

"Measures will have to be taken to control the future growth of the Games, which must not be allowed to grow any larger, otherwise they will present a major risk that if not well managed and controlled may result in IOC becoming a victim of its own success."

"The temptation to display innovative designs and construction methods has been described as 'hallmark decision making' and is evident in situations where rational decision-making processes, regarding venue costs and future uses, get overridden due to decision makers' 'monument complex'."

"In the context of mega-events a flagship constitutes an iconic construction which is meant to be a landmark, seeking not only urban renewal but also the promotion and projection of a city's image and identity, tied into aggressive city-rebranding campaigns."

Open Questions

• How does Olympic gigantism relate to Sklair's analysis of iconic architecture — are Olympic venues a distinct category of icon driven by temporary mega-events rather than permanent TCC interests?
• What is the relationship between the "monument complex" and Johnson's critique of CCTV — is both driven by the same logic of spectacular display regardless of function?
• How does the post-Games venue problem connect to the "Bilbao effect" — Bilbao succeeded, but most Olympic flagships fail to achieve sustained use. Why?
• Does the IOC's failed 117 recommendations parallel the wiki's "Fate of Critical Architecture" — institutional recognition of problems but structural inability to change?