The Olympic Games Legacy: from Unity to Identity

Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger) defined the spirit of sport when Pierre de Coubertin first introduced it as the motto for the Modern Olympic Games. The five interlocking rings symbolized the spirit of unity and healthy competition that brought together people from all parts of the globe. The first Olympic Games held in 1896 in Athens, Greece, had 14 participating nations, 241 athletes and 49 sport events in all. [International Olympic Committee (IOC)] The first few Olympics of the 20th century focused on temporary accommodation for the participants, what Francesc Munoz describes as an emergency residential menu in his article, Olympic Urbanism and Olympic Villages: Planning strategies in Olympic Host Cities, London 1908 to London 2012 published in Sociological Review in 2006. From Munozs account, it appears that the first discussions on an Olympic Village were held in 1924. However, the first concrete example of the Olympic V illage model does not appear until the 1960 Games in Rome. By this time, the scale of the event had grown substantially, with 83 participating nations, 5,338 athletes and 150 sport events in all (International Olympic Committee). This was also the first Olympics where the sale of television rights supplemented government and private funding. Quoting Munoz, For the first time ever, there was a regional conception of the urban mass, and behind the location and installation of Olympic facilities, there was a project for the territorial expansion of the city, of colonisation by the city. This expansion in scale and typological mutation was fuelled by technological advances in transport and telecommunication made during that era. The television audience, which presented an untapped market resource for revenue generation, became the primary target audience for the event. Following Rome 1960, the Games were now seen as a facilita-

tor for global recognition. The IOC became the global patron not only for sport, but also for tourism, leisure, culture and economic development. The next two host cities, Tokyo 1964 and Mexico 1968, experimented with this mutation in an attempt to capitalize on this global spectacle. Tokyo reinforced this trend, by introducing the concept of art as representative of a culture with a six-week festival that ran throughout the Games, along with dazzling shows of light and colour. This concept became the centerpiece of Mexicos bid for the 1968 Games. The Mexico 68 Games were, significantly, the first games awarded to a developing country. Hosting the Games was now being seen as a validation of the countrys capabilities and its role in the global arena. However, as the perceived stakes were raised, socio-economic pressures also increased on each host nation and city. The rising cost

Above: Changing Infrastructural Impact of the Summer Olympic Games

Source: Essex, Stephen and Brian Chalkley (2003): Urban transformation from hosting the Olympic Games: university lecture on the Olympics [online article].

of the Olympic Spectacle was evident in the growing scale, and also in the rising public dissent over the social and economic sacrifice involved. The financial disaster of the Montreal 1976 Games threatened to erode the luster of the Games as well. The world superpowers of that era, the US and USSR, were left competing for the event in 1980 and 1984. Munich tried to overcome public revolt by integrating the opportunity for new development with restoring and rejuvenating derelict areas of the city. This was a model adapted by Barcelona 1992, and its success is widely recognised in what is known as the Barcelona Model. However, it was not until Los Angeles 1984 that there was renewed vigour among nations to host the Games, clearly spurred by the financial gains declared by the organizing committee. In the Los Angeles Games the numbers had exponentially increased, with 140 participating nations, 6,829 athletes and 221 sport events in all (International Olympic Committee). Along with this, accommodation needs had to be met for an additional section of visitors the media. The Games accommodated 9,190 media representatives. Significantly, the opening and closing ceremonies were now oriented towards the virtual community, addressing the global television audience. This was to become the trend for all future Olympic Games. The focus had now shifted on the spectacle of ceremonies. The perceived benefits of hosting the Games were bolstered further with Seoul 1988. Economic gains, urban revitalization, infrastructure, and global tourism were now associated with political benefits. The success of Tokyo 64 and the precedents set by the two superpowers put immense pressure for the city to deliver. However, their gains now translated into diplomatic relations with China and most East European nations (Gold and Gold 2005). Moreover, as per Andrew Billingss account in his 2010 online article Through the Minds of Billions: Identity Construction in the Ultimate Megasporting Event, (the) results in every sport ultimately are used to create a medal table

Above: The emergence of mega-events as a tool of urban and regional public policy in the postindustrial city.
Source: Essex, Stephen and Chaulkley, Brian(2004) 'Mega-sporting events in urban and regional policy: a history of the Winter Olympics', Planning Perspectives, 19: 2, 201 204

that some tacitly believe imparts meaning on the status of your nation in the world order The resulting trend from the politicization and commercialization of the mega-event is the host-citys willingness to bear an immense financial burden, and demand social sacrifice, which is seen from the ever-increasing scale of such events. Beijing 2008 saw an unprecedented 204 participating nations, with 10,942 athletes and 302 events. There were 24,562 accredited media personnel representing 159 countries. Over 3.6 billion individuals watched the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, 3.9 billion watched the Athens Games and 4.7 billion watched the Beijing Olympics (Short 2008). Say Stephen Essex and Brian Chaulkey in their article Megasporting events in urban and regional policy: a history of the Winter Olympics published in Planning Perspectives in 2004, (Today,) the Olympics are one of the most visible and spectacular examples of a public cultural event in modern societies...(They) have become an attractive option in urban policy as a means of improving the appearance of the environment, creating a spectacle to attract global investment, facilitating fast-track development and promoting a new image through place marketing. Also, as witnessed in Seoul and later in Beijing in particular, the government took extremely authoritarian stands in their effort for spectacularization. In both cases, squatters were displaced, neighborhoods bulldozed and stereotypical high-rise, high-income and touristcentric spectacles introduced. Mexico 68 provides an earlier example of authoritarianism in the Olympics, in the infamous Tlatelolco massacre weeks before the Games. Similar revolts have been associated with Beijing 2008 though there is little documentation of it. Moreover, there are countless instances of corruption throughout the history of mega events. Money laundering, illegal tendering, telecast rights, ticket sales sport event history is littered with scandals in these areas. Christopher Shaws account of the planning for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, in his book Five Ring Circus: Myths

Above: Summer Olympics Broadcast Rights

Source: Short, John R.(2008) 'Globalization, Cities and the Summer Olympics', City, 12:3, 321340

and Realities of the Olympic Games, is a recent addition to this list. In this context, it is the ability of the Olympics to polarize people, their opinions and aspirations over the last 50 years that stands out. This polarization starts with nationalism as the over-arching patriotic umbrella that overshadows all else. As Billings says, there is a protagonist and an antagonist. Yet, the event remains one of the most sought after megaevents among host city candidates. The media has been pivotal in maintaining the aura of the event. As Shaw writes, Fifty Years of saturation advertising tends to have a considerable impact, dulling the background drumbeat of scandals and misspent public funds... The relentless pressure of delivery and very high stakes involving national pride and citizenship have huge impacts on the sociopolitical and economic backbone of the host nation. Debates and controversies surround every Games today, as the point of views of the resident, the planner and the politician have been disconnected. (Essex and Chaulkey 2003) With each precedent set, the bar is raised. There is a sense
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that the next must be better. Competition has grown far and beyond the purview of the athlete. The scale of these events has necessitated the formation of principals and guidelines for development as laid out by the International Olympic Committee, in order to combat the growing inter-relationship between the Games and local dissent, polarization and violation of human rights. As Shaw reports, In every city it examined, the Olympic Games accidentally or deliberately have become a catalyst for mass evictions and impoverishment. Since 1988, over 2 million people have been driven from their homes to make way for the Olympics. These ideals have been established to ensure that humanitarian causes are not lost in the frenzy associated with such projects. Yet, neither the IOC, nor the host nation, and certainly not the media, can deny the charm of the world class city. Inherently, there is a sense of a make-over, the value of a new beginning embedded in each attempt. In many emerging economies, the aspiration for a better future remains inextricably connected with the denial of the present. The new image marketed through the spectacularization of the Olympics has been synonymous with the idea of the world-class city. It is the same political ambition that fuelled Seoul 1988, where global recognition was bolstered by the promise of economic and urban development. Especially in the case of cities from the Global South, this Olympic boosterism roots itself in desire for upheaval and the search for a better future. But what does it mean to be a worldclass city? According to Lenskji, citing an earlier work, a world-class city has a critical mass of visitor attractions and facilities, hallmark events, urban tourism strategies, leisure and cultural services to support tourism (Shaw 2008). In other words, a world-class city has the sort of amenities and entertainment that the worlds travelling rich have a right to expect when they visit. A world-class city is a bourgeois playground (Shaw 2008).

Essentially, what Shaw highlights is the fact that the middleclass and poor have very little benefit from such a strategy. However, they are tax-payers as well and, many would argue, also those who are required and even forced to make the largest social sacrifices. They must be convinced about the event. This is where the media becomes dually effective. While preparing to project manufactured identities to the world, the media simultaneously is responsible for creating public consent to facilitate the citys transformation. New identities are being imagined, created, as they are sold. In Munozs words, ...the Olympic Village nowadays must be the alter ego of the city, like a miniature city where urban identity is exchanged for Olympic identity.... In this context, a new class of creative professional emerges, whose responsibility is to the create uniqueness. Place-theming then involves inventing or re-inventing places, as Carmona says in his book Public Places Urban Spaces, Re-invented places.... involve significant change, distortion and loss of authenticity.... Invention as an attempt to deceive is problematic, but the real issue is when seduction becomes manipulation The irony is not lost when one reflects back on the initial concerns and objectives of the Games. An event established for peace and unity is now connected with exclusive, manufactured identities, and linked with manipulation, corruption and social discord. The concept of Legacy stems from such concerns, in order to try and guide the development towards what is essential for the city's long-term sustenance. The urban scale of development triggered by the Olympics has made the concept of Legacy pivotal to any bid proposal today. The IOC recognizes that a three-week event must leave behind more than just memories for the host citizens. However, its biggest challenge today lies not in the creative imagining of the world-class city, but rather in developing a critical reflection on the means and methods employed for the envisioning
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and execution of such events. Indeed, more transparency is needed within the planning authorities, and the decision-making processes must be creatively addressed at every level. The mutation of the Games over the last 50 years has completely altered their context. Developing a relevent model for the city is, perhaps, secondary to the urgent need to develop a relevent model for the Games themselves. The technological advances have been so far employed to promote these Games. Perhaps, there is a need to redeploy the same technological processes on the Games themselves, a need to reimagine the Games rather than the city. Maulik Bansal
Maulik Bansal is an urban designer who graduated from University of California, Berkeley. His Masters thesis was on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His work can be found on (http://archinect.com/people/cover/19072813/maulik-bansal)
Bibliography 1. Shaw, Christopher A., "Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games". New Society Publishers, 2008. 2. Munoz, Francesc. Olympic urbanism and Olympic Villages: planning strategies in Olympic host cities, London 1908 to London 2012. Sociological Review 2006. Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 3. Carmona, Tiesdell, Heath, & Oc. (2010). Public Places Urban Spaces. Oxford: Elsevier. 4. Short, John R.(2008) 'Globalization, cities and the Summer Olympics', City, 12: 3, 321-340 5. Essex, Stephen and Chalkley, Brian (2004) 'Mega-sporting events in urban and regional policy: a history of the Winter Olympics', Planning Perspectives, 19: 2, 201204 6. Billings, Andrew C. (2010): Through the Minds of Billions: Identity Construction in the Ultimate Megasporting Event: university lecture on the Olympics [online article].