The leadup to the Rio Olympics have been clouded by concerns about water contamination and venue construction, yet another recent Olympic host site is facing plenty of new problems of their own.
According to economist and professor Andrew Zimbalist, the 2004 Athens Olympics went a mind-boggling $15 billion over its initial $1.6 billion budget -- an overspend of over 800%.
The lion's share of the added costs fell on the shoulders of a Greek government which has been unable to pay its debts due to an overriding financial crisis that has crippled the nation's economy.
Now, Athens is left with a bunch of stadiums they have no use for, with the venues for softball, beach volleyball, and kayaking all deserted and covered in weeds. The following photos, courtesy of Business Insider, are a stark reminder of just how much hosting an Olympics can cost a country and just why the IOC is having trouble finding nations to host the event.
The beach volleyball stadium, with weeds sprouting through the sand.
A far cry from the packed house that saw Misty May and Kerri Walsh take Olympic gold.
Even the practice courts outside are covered in weeds and brush.
The Olympic village? Deserted and decaying.
Plans to turn the village into housing and build a school in the area fell through, leaving thousands of families who applied to live on the site scrambling for other options.
As for the softball stadium, nobody bothers with it anymore.
Same with the baseball field.
Perhaps the most telling of all is the canoe/kayak center. Once a world class, state-of-the-art venue, it is now the equivalent of a dump with standing water around the center.
That's not to mention the field hockey center and a host of other sites now collecting dust and grime.
It's a truly chilling display of what spending $16.6 billion on the ultimate temporary event really means for a country like Greece.
