The Winter Olympics may have concluded with celebrations of athletic achievement, but a darker legacy lingers in the form of abandoned venues from past Games. From Berlin 1936 to Rio 2016, many once-grand facilities now stand as eerie reminders of the immense costs and fleeting benefits of hosting the Olympics.
Rio de Janeiro's 2016 Summer Olympics cost an estimated $13 billion, yet months after the Games, the former Media Centre and Aquatic Centre—where Britain's Adam Peaty won gold—were already falling into disrepair. Photographs show empty halls and decaying infrastructure, symbolizing a broken promise of lasting legacy.
Beijing's 2008 Olympics, costing around £28 billion, left behind the iconic Bird's Nest stadium, which will host events for the 2022 Winter Games. However, images from 2016 reveal a nightmarish scene: fallen mascots lying in overgrown shopping malls and parts of the Olympic Village occupied by refugees.
The 2004 Athens Olympics, estimated at $11 billion, saw venues like the hockey stadium abandoned. Meanwhile, Sarajevo's 1984 Winter Olympics facilities—including ski jumps and a bobsled track—were left unusable after the Bosnian war. The track was even used to transport weapons during the conflict.
In Berlin, the 1936 Olympic Village, built under Nazi rule, later served as barracks for German and Russian armies. Today, a decaying swimming pool remains, with plans to restore the site into apartments. These haunting photos tell their own stories of decay and lost glory.
