The Cost of the Olympics

Letter to the Editor

The Editor… RIO TIMES,

I’m writing from the province of British Columbia on the west coast of Canada, where the 21st Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver and Whistler this past February. The Games were the main focus of the Government of British Columbia for several years leading up to 2010, and no expense was spared on infrastructure, etc. Over and over again the local citizenry were told that the eyes of the world would be focused on our province, and we would reap huge benefits. Indeed, international observers praised the Games as most successful.

There are many citizens who feel that we were never told the full extent of the deficit caused by hosting the Games, and that the truth concerning expenditure is a very scarce commodity. A harsh new tax has been implemented in July, which many think is to pay for excesses of the past few years leading up to the Games. Now the Premier of the province has a popularity somewhat similar to that of the Coach of the Brazilian Soccer Team after elimination from the World Cup in South Africa recently; his poll numbers stand at 12% for Approval, and 83% for Distrust.

I know that The Marvelous City (Cidade Maravilhosa) of Rio de Janeiro is to host the Summer Olympics in 2016; I urge your Cariocas and the Fluminense from the surrounding state to set aside their glasses of cachaça and caipifruta for a brief moment, and consider the consequences of over-spending as Olympic hosts. Around the time of the original Olympiad in the shadow of Mount Olympus there was an off-beat Greek philosopher named Diogenes The Cynic. He carried a lantern around Athens in the broad daylight looking for an honest man. The ghost of Diogenes is shining his lantern into the dark corners where politicians are lurking in British Columbia; let’s hope he doesn’t have to travel to Rio after 2016.

Yours sincerely
Bernie Smith
568, Belson Street
Parksville,BC
Canada, V9P 1B5
(250) 248-8307