Photo Credit: Eric Evans

Hannah Rosenfeild

President Barack Obama’s bid for Chicago to host the Olympic games in 2016 came in a humiliating fourth place during the final string of voting by the International Olympic Committee after Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro, the winner. Obama’s disappointment was echoed by both the media and the public, but is America really ready to host another Olympic games? And should we be allowed to?

It is time to face facts: America is having financial trouble. With the American debt setting new historical precedents, and unemployment tagging not too far behind, we are hardly in a position to spend the estimated $1.2 billion on an Olympic village. And that doesn’t include the $1.1 billion to improve Chicago’s infrastructure and erect hotels impressive enough to create a convincing facade of American prestige (think selective shots of Beijing gardens and prominent hotels that we saw over and over again in 2008). America seems to have its hands full with controlling internal opinion about its recession policies and foreign affairs. We should think twice before opening up the floodgates of international judgment. The Olympics in question might be seven years off, but we need to sort ourselves out before accepting a multi billion dollar improvement regiment.

America has had more than its fair share of Olympic games. Since the creation of the modern Olympics in 1896, the U.S. alone has hosted the games eight times – winter and summer four and four respectively. Europe beats the U.S. with 30 of the 49 games to date. Yet neither Africa nor South America has ever hosted a single game. Until now.

Traditionally, the Olympic games are a time when the world comes together; they are about peace, cooperation and world unity. With a few exceptions, (the Munich massacre of ‘72, and the US and USSR boycotts of the ‘80 and ’84 games come to mind) they have achieved their purpose. There is no longer any reason for effectively excluding South America from that unity. In the past, the argument was that South America offered only third world and emerging habitats, unsuitable and unsafe for the world stage. Rio de Janeiro has its problems, but it is by no means a third world city.

Rio gained much needed respectability when it hosted the 2007 Pan American Games. In the process, it proved to the International Olympic Committee that its reputation for rampant crime could be overcome, while simultaneously upgrading their facilities to an Olympic level. They still have two million people living in slums throughout the city, but officials believe that the massive stimulus will create jobs, boost the local economy, and provide funding for the first effective police movement against prominent local drug lords. By the time international newscasters turn their sights towards the beautiful Brazilian beaches that have drawn a steady trickle of tourist activity to Rio for years, the city will be covered in the trademark Olympic luster.