From Zika virus to raw sewage in water to civil disobedience, there is no shortage of problems plaguing the Rio Olympics 2016. Repeatedly, it has been expressed that the Brazilian authorities are turning the largest assembly of sportsmen on the Earth into a disastrous event.
However, Rio Olympics is way down on the list of the most disastrous Olympics ever.
The Olympic Games hall of shame is filled with the tales of racism, terrorism, fascism, fiscal ruin. Do you want to know who hosted the worst Olympics ever? Here’s the list of Worst 5 Olympics in the history:
5. Atlanta Olympics 1996
An unattended green bag was spotted in the Olympic Park by the vigilant security guard Richard Jewell on the morning of July 27. Jewell was unaware that the bag hid a 40-pound pipe bomb inside it, yet he forewarned the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The authorities were supervising evacuation when the device went off, resulting in the death of a local woman named Alice Hawthorne while more than 100 people were left injured. The resulting pandemonium also gave a fatal heart attack to a Turkish cameraman. This terror attack was traced to an anti-abortion fanatic who was jailed later.
Even before the tragic bombing, the Atlanta Olympics was an organisational mess. Shuttle buses for athletes were often caught up in huge lines, and some drivers even lost their way to the game venues. One of the reigning Olympic judo champions was declared disqualified when he arrived late for his weigh-in.
4. Athens Olympics, 2004
Before Athens Olympics, Montreal would easily have ended up with the title of the stupidest Olympics financial mismanagement for 1976 Games. But then came 2004 Olympics and the Greeks decided to use only the government infrastructure program to build permanent game arenas.
The government allocated a whopping $4.6 billion for the Games but over the course of next few years, the costs tripled. Some experts say that the foundation for the Greece’s financial crisis was laid down by the poor fiscal management during the Athens Olympics 2004.
After the games, Greece could not even afford to maintain the new facilities and the venues, including the Olympic Park. These places have been left decaying and neglected while the Greek team has been forced to travel to Cyprus to use decent training facilities.
3. Moscow Olympics, 1980
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan six months before Olympics. Jimmy Carter announced that the US team would boycott the Moscow Olympics and convinced 64 other nations to follow suit.
Thus, the participation in Moscow Olympics was ridiculously low; the smallest number of countries took part in the Games since the Melbourne Olympics that were organised before the air travel became common. Later, the reports revealed that East Germany ran a state-sponsored project to inject its athletes with steroids, amphetamines, and human growth hormone without their consent. It is now common knowledge that a large number of the Olympics medals at Moscow were won by drug cheats.
2. Berlin Olympics, 1936
Berlin Olympics was meant to be an international effort to end Germany’s isolation in the post-First World War world. Two years after it was decided that the Olympics 1936 will be hosted by Berlin, Adolf Hitler became the German Chancellor. As his notoriety as a vicious racist and an anti-Semitic spread, nations began to confer about an international boycott. Nonetheless, all countries participated in the Berlin Olympics 1936.
Berlin Olympics was a spectacular show, and the extravaganza served as a trendsetter for the future Olympics as well. However, Hitler brazenly mocked the Black athletes in the U.S. team and referred to them as America’s black auxiliaries.
Adolf Hitler congratulated the first two winners personally in the Olympic Park personally but left rather than congratulate the first African-American who won the gold medal at the Olympic Stadium, Cornelius Johnson. However, Berlin Games became a historic affair when Jesse Owen, an African-American Ohio student from the State went on to win gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters, sprint relay, and long jump competitions.
1. Munich Olympics, 1972
Sports and games were farthest from the minds of millions of viewers as the Munich Games were marred by the terrorists who clambered over the fence surrounding the Olympic village and broke into the two apartments of the Israeli team. The Palestinian militants took eleven Israeli coaches and athletes as hostages and murdered the Israeli weightlifter Yossef Romano was castrated and then shot in front of the other athletes when he attempted to fight back.
The Palestinians demanded the release hundreds of Palestinians held in Israel. A disastrous attempt to save the hostages and kill the militants resulted in the death of all the hostages.
