THE 10 MOST DISASTROUS GAMES
Much has happened in the run-up to Delhi 2010 to give it a bad name, but rows and fracas aren’t new to mega sporting events. Boria Majumdar presents a selection of the modern era’s most controversial Games Delhi Games 2010, as the international bad press in the past week underlined, is turning out to be one of the most controversial mega sporting events ever. Never before have prime ministers of multiple participating countries condemned preparations in the host city and made common cause with athletes who are pulling out citing apprehensions over hygiene and security. The event – by far the most expensive Commonwealth Games with a tab of Rs 70,068 crore for the nation – has been rocked by scandal after scandal and tales of underpreparedness almost on a daily basis. In the echelons of big sport spectacles, Delhi 2010 is turning out to be a marketing slogan gone awry. And as every marketer knows, there is nothing worse for a dodgy product than a good slogan. The average Indian, as a TOI poll recently revealed, sees it largely as an exercise in opulence with little or no benefit in the longer term. Most believe that the sports facilities created for the Games are destined to be white elephants, never to be within the reach of ordinary citizens.How these Games are remembered will only be known after October 14, when the curtains come down on the event. While the nation prays for things to fall in place for Delhi 2010 from here on, here’s a look at 10 mega sporting events which for various reasons are counted among the most controversial of all time. * NAZI GAMES | Berlin Olympics | 1936 *Held in the most sinister backdrop, no pre-War Olympics is better documented than Berlin Games. That's because German dictator Adolf Hitler used the event as a propaganda prop to promote Nazism and the ‘achievements’ of the Third Reich. Filmmaker Leni Reifenstahl, a favourite of Hitler’s, was commissioned to record it. In her film, Olympia, Hitler and Nazi officials feature as prominently as the athletes. The German government was believed to have spent an astronomical sum of about $30 million on an event meant to showcase the master Aryan race. Berlin was ‘cleaned up’; signs like ‘Jews not wanted’ were removed from main tourist attractions, and gypsies arrested and kept in a special camp. * TERROR TORN | Munich Olympics | 1972 *Olympics plummeted to a new low in Munich when terrorists from the group Black September killed 11 Israeli athletes/coaches and a West German police officer after storming the residential block of the Israeli weightlifting team inside the Games Village. In an ordeal lasting almost 24 hours, five of the eight Black September extremists who had taken the athletes hostage were killed by police officers during a failed rescue attempt at the airport. The three surviving terrorists were captured but later released by West Germany following the hijacking of a Lufthansa plane by the terror group. Munich wasn’t an organizational success either. * BOYCOTT SHADOW Montreal Olympics | 1976 *If Munich lost money, Montreal 1976 was a financial disaster. The city needed three decades to pay off the $592 million (Canadian) debt incurred in the event. Though the Games will be remembered for the perfect 10 scored by gymnast, Nadia Comaneci (in picture), it was the first Olympics to witness a mass boycott. Some 28 countries, mostly African, refused to participate in protest against IOC’s decision not to bar New Zealand after its rugby team had toured South Africa. Boycotts haunted Olympics for the next two Games. * JINX & CHAOS | Atlanta Olympics | 1996 *The centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta had been criticized for not investing enough in infrastructure and for poor transport facilities. These prompted the Observer to describe Atlanta as a city in ‘complete chaos’ during the Games. The Games were jinxed to start with. The trouble began from the time the Americans landed in Greece to take the Olympic flame to Atlanta. The Greeks refused, saying the Americans had devalued the flame. Atlanta failed to recover from this and is still regarded as one of the worst organized Summer Games. The expected boost to tourism never happened, jobs weren’t generated and by the time the Games started, most projects appeared to be non-starters. * PAINFUL LEGACY | Sydney Olympics | 2000 *If the 1936 Olympics was one of the most politicized, the Sydney Games of 2000 best personifies the negative economic impact that mega events can have on host cities. The Sydney Olympic Park which housed the athletes, now stands derelict. Getting there, some 25km from the business district, is an ordeal involving driving down Paramatta Road for an hour. The link between Darwin Harbour was not accomplished and the taxpayers continue to bear the brunt of this investment. Even as a tourist attraction, the Sydney Olympic Park has little currency. It remains an example of how things can go wrong while trying to use sport as a module for urban regeneration. * POLITICAL GRAPPLES | Jakarta Asiad | 1962 * One of the most controversial Asian Games. Indonesia didn’t allow Taiwanese and Israeli athletes to take part. Soon after, Indian officials took on the regime led by Sukarno (in picture), leading to Indonesia’s expulsion from IOC. Israel and Taiwan were recognized by IOC but not by Indonesia. It resorted to subterfuge, giving these athletes blank ID cards. The day the Asiad was to start, an Indian official proposed its status be downgraded to ‘an international sports meet’. On September 3, the Indian embassy was ‘stormed’ by an irate mob. * AGONY SPORTS London C’wealth Games | 1934 *While the opening ceremony in London was a success, the organization of the Games left London with a tainted legacy. The Canadians, among all teams, had a terrible time in London. The Toronto Star said it took more than five minutes to put a telephone call through from the hotel. “Meals without liquids were served and no tea at luncheon and coffee in the drawing room, no laundry facilities and six pence extra for a glass of milk.” The athletes desperately wished the competition to end. The Canadians reported they were made to walk from the underground at Wood Lane to the Wembley Stadium, an ordeal that left most of them exhausted before formal training started. * CASHLESS IN CANADA Vancouver C’wealth Games | 1954 *With just days for the Games to begin, the organizing committee was facing a deficit of more than $125,000 (Canadian) with all channels of fundraising exhausted. The situation was such that V Stanley Smith, chairman of the British Empire Games Committee, said he would have to beg, borrow or steal to hold the Games. Word that the Vancouver Games weren’t in great shape got round and the international press commented harshly on the disorganization. Smith declared there was bound to be some ‘orderly disorder when we have over 1,000 athletes, managers and newspapermen suddenly descend on us’, a statement very similar to the ‘minor glitches’ remark made by the Delhi CM. * EXISTENTIAL CRISIS Brisbane C’wealth Games | 1982 *Reporting from Brisbane for the Toronto Star, Wayne Parrish summed up the existential crisis at the heart of the Games, “At best, the Commonwealth Games are a spectacle more rooted in tradition than reality, at worst, a superfluous reminder of a long ago arena when Britannia ruled the waves. In 1982, the Games is a fragile affiliation of countries which have escaped the bosom of mother England and show no inclination to return... In itself, perhaps this is not sufficient reason to question the concept and future of the Games but taken together with several other factors, it will have a lot of people doing precisely that over the next four years…” * DIZZYING FALL Edinburgh C’wealth Games | 1986 *The debate over relevance of the Commonwealth Games gathered steam. Also because the world swimming championships, where standards were much higher, were to be held just three weeks after the Games. It was apparent in both Brisbane and Edinburgh that the event was losing currency as a quality sports competition. At Brisbane, the 1,500 metres women’s gold medallist was a staggering 16 seconds off the world record. Also, Kirsty Mcdermott of Wales won the women’s 800 metres with a timing of 2.01.23 seconds, slower than what Dixie Willis, who gave her the medal, had clocked in 1961. *SPORTING SHAME * (Clockwise from left) Hitler at the Berlin Olympics; police storm a building where terrorists held athletes hostage at the Munich Games; Jesse Owens, the US sprinter who dealt a blow to Hitler’s theories of Aryan supremacy -- With best wishes S Chander
