Looking back at the Olympic venues since 1896 – are they still in use?

Alonzo Herndon Stadium, 2014 – Atlanta, Georgia. Used in the 1996 Summer Olympics.& Peter Ciro, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0& by Vaughan Cruickshank, University of Tasmania and Tom Hartley, University of Tasmania Olympic Games are big affairs that require massive infrastructure projects to build the various stadiums and venues. Many of the sports have specific requirements – fake whitewater and rocks for kayaking, huge slopes for ski jumps, or sand for beach volleyball. On top of that, these venues need to be able to support large crowds and the technology needed to manage the events. As former Victorian premier Dan Andrews discovered in 2023, hosting big sporting events costs big money. The Tokyo Olympics are estimated to have cost A$23 billion dollars, a lot of which was spent building infrastructure. A 2022 report from the International Olympic Committee revealed that 85% of the stadiums, venues and structures used in the Olympics are currently still in use. But how are they used, were they new structures and what happened to the 15% of venues that have fallen into disuse? Stadiums Panathenaic Stadium in 1896 – Athens, Greece. Built and modified since circa 330 BC, it was used in the first modern Olympics in...