As excitement builds for the first Olympic Games in South
America (Rio 2016), other countries are looking ahead to Games even farther in
the distance. Kenya has now joined the list of countries bidding for the 2024
Games. The bidding process is long, arduous, and costly, even for developed
countries who aim to get the Games. However, this would be a momentous occasion
for Africa as a whole if Nairobi won the bid; they would thus be the first
African city to host the Games. With the successful staging of the World Cup in
South Africa in 2010, Africa doesn’t seem like such a scary place anymore to
host international sporting events.
However, it seems strange to think about Nairobi in quite
the same way that people thought about London leading up to the 2012 Olympic
Games. When people think about London, iconic images come to mind of the Royal
Family, Big Ben, and the London Eye. What sort of image do people have when
they think about Nairobi? The top stories about Africa lately have been about
poverty, violence, and corruption- not quite the kind of place where people
would be willing to go to watch gymnastic matches. The most recent story about
Nairobi on CNN is about a fatal grenade blast that occurred on a minibus in
November of this year. It is difficult to think about a place like this being
ready to host one of the world’s most prestigious and watched sporting events.
And yet, similar events like this occur around the world on
a daily basis. One day after London found out that they were the 2012 Host
City, there were terrorist attacks on the London Underground. There is no
guarantee that the 2024 Games will be exceptionally different, no matter who
wins the bid. Nairobi is up against some tough competition, though; the U.S and
Canada are planning a joint bid to host the Games in Toronto and Buffalo.
France is also joining the race once more. Bidding for the Olympics is nothing
new for them, and experience matters in something as complicated as an Olympic
bid.
Though the bidding process will be costly and time-consuming
for Nairobi, it is still worth a shot. Perhaps if the Games were in more
regions of the world that are relatively unknown, or known for the wrong
reasons, then perceptions could change. It is possible that the world could
start seeing Africa not as a dark continent but rather a place of change and
hope for the future. Furthermore, maybe focus will begin to shift from seeing
South Africa as the sole developed country in Africa and other successful
countries will receive more recognition. As Nairobi gears up to bid for the
2024 Games, the world will be watching.
Sources:
Nairobi Olympic Bid:http://www.webpronews.com/2024-olympics-bid-nairobi-sets-their-sights-2012-08
Kenya Grenade Attacks: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/18/world/africa/kenya-grenade-attack/index.html?iref=allsearch
London Terrorist Attacks: http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=917172&page=1#.UMUDcJPjk45
I enjoy your post, and I believe that it raises a few really important questions. Primarily, I have recently run across an article from August that discussed how hosting the Olympics was the catalyst for the utter debacle that is currently Greece. Here is the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-02/how-the-2004-olympics-triggered-greeces-decline
I believe that it would be interesting to run some numbers and see if a city like Nairobi would benefit from hosting the games, or turn into a tragic failure like Greece. Perhaps they should wait for a little more development prior to hosting such a massive event. Regardless, I believe that sooner or later an African nation must host the Olympics.
You bring up a good point with Greece- unfortunately other examples exist around the world as well.
DeleteI am currently writing a thesis on this very subject to see what exactly would happen if Nairobi or a similar African city were to host the Games and what that might mean for the future of international sport.
I think it could be really interesting to see a country like Nairobi host the Olympics. When South Africa hosted the World Cup, there were huge benefits for the country such as job creation, the building of infrastructure, and positive publicity. These benefits could also been seen if other African countries hosted large sporting events. While I agree with David that perhaps Nairobi is not quite ready to host the Olympics just yet, perhaps winning the bid could help them get to that point by 2024.
ReplyDeleteThere is also a lot of critique about the South African World Cup because of how they dealt with unsanitary/poorly built public housing in areas where they aimed to build new buildings. The World Cup was not perfect, but in the end it made people think about South Africa in a different way than the international community did during apartheid. I agree that it is progress, and it will be interesting to see if that truly spreads throughout the continent.
DeleteThough i agree that perception will be a huge obstacle to overcome for Nairobi, there are still basic realities and real concerns that they would have to deal with. You will have millions of people descending on Nairobi for the Olympics and Kenya does not necessarily provide the best security as shown by the example u gave. Also there needs to be enormous capital that needs to be built and invested in order to setup the infrastructure needed and Kenya would be starting from scratch whereas london already has all the stadiums and venues. Also hosting olympic games and world cups are not as profitable as people think, often host cities experience huge losses in the short run, and minimal gains in the long run. Also Kenya should be ready for heavy criticism for trying to host these games and investing in it while the local people suffer.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you mean by London already having the stadiums and venues for the Games. They hired an engineering company to built the Olympic stadium and other venues in an area of London that was not previously developed.
DeleteThe point about simple capacity issues is definitely a challenge that every host city has to face. Infrastructure is one of the main issues for any host city, and that may even be more of an issue for Nairobi than others. The optimal end result of an Olympic Games would be that it would provide long-term benefits for the local population, but there is no guarantee that this would be the case.
I think that the potential for the creation for short term "jobs" is not worth it in the long run and will not do much to help this struggling African country. Much like the "Jobs for Obama" campaign during the election season where people were paid to help with the re-election of President Obama. These people had a job for less than 6 months and were once again jobless after the election. Much of the same would happen in Kenya. Jobs would be present for a short time, maybe a couple years. After the projects are completed or the games are over, those people would lose their jobs again and have no where to turn. They'd just have really cool stadiums to look at that would probably fall into disrepair quite quickly.
ReplyDeleteThat is definitely a good point. Though the lead-up to the Games is often long and provides a lot of work for the host country citizens, after the Games there isn't much left to do. One of the things that might alleviate this issue would be if tourism increased and kept some of the local restaurants and businesses afloat. It is a difficult balance, though, and increasing sustainability in terms of jobs is a really important issue.
DeleteAnother problem might be that radically increased tourism would have a negative impact on the country: a lot of tourism in Kenya is based on the wildlife, and any mismanagement of such an influx of people could have bad long-term consequences for the industry as a whole.
DeleteAbsolutely, I agree. Increases in tourism really needs to come in the right form with the right infrastructure already in place. Perhaps one benefit of a long bidding/preparing period is that they could take some time to prepare for those circumstances.
DeleteIt would be great to see an African nation host the Olympic games but there are many problems that are very worrisome. As David pointed out the games can leave a country in economic disaster as seen in Turin, Italy or Greece. I believe that beautiful infrastructures would be built used for two weeks and never filled again. It will be very interesting to see what countries get upcoming bids.
ReplyDeleteSomething that London did that was effective in reducing the negative effects like you suggested was working more on sustainability efforts, especially for the stadium. The stadium was built such that pieces of it could be removed so it could be used again after the Games in a smaller setting. Projects like this will most likely become more common in future Games.
DeleteInteresting article. I remember the huge commotion over the World Cup in South Africa several years ago. I believe it did a lot of good for the worlds view on Africa and I believe if Nairobi won the bid it would do good as well. The olympic committee should choose the city to provide jobs to its people. When the whole world is watching the host city for the upcoming games, it is difficult for the government to continue its high levels of corruption. I believe choosing Nairobi for the games will make the government more transparent and bring global attention/support to Nairobi.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point about reducing corruption. There was a big push during the Beijing 2008 Games for China to reduce its human rights violations and bring its pollution problems under control. There is still debate about whether international pressure was actually successful in this case. I fear that the same could occur for Kenya, but maybe they can be different.
DeleteI don't see how bringing the Olympics to a country will benefit them. It is supposed to put a country's (or city's) name on the map for all the international world, but in the long run it does more harm than good. It is costly, and the effects are short term. With all the money flowing, it just smells of corruption.
ReplyDeleteI think that's an argument a lot of people have about the Olympics, but I can't say that what you describe is always the case. The Sydney 2000 Games are widely regarded as being close to "the perfect Games" because it truly increased tourism to Australia in a positive way and showcased their ancient culture as well as technological advances. Another argument is that sports bring together a population under a national identity, more so than politics have ever been able to do. If we want to see Kenya (or other African nations) become international players, they need to assert themselves in a big way- and maybe the Olympics are the way to do it. Your arguments are however understandable and definitely valid and I wish there was a way to alleviate all of the issues you mention while still maintaining the initial integrity of the Olympic Games.
DeleteI agree that you bring up valid points opposing Nairobi as a host for the Olympic games. As other comments have mentioned though, the Olympic games being hosted by Nairobi or even their bid for the games could result in a changing attitude on behalf of the international community. Also I believe it is hard to judge if corruption would increase or decrease due to external pressures of transparency and the watching eyes of the international community.
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