- Former host cities like Sarajevo, Athens, and Beijing have had venues to suffer the same fate.
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The venues from the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics are already falling apart, and they're not the only ones.
Hosting the Olympics can be an economic burden on a country, especially if the host nation has to build venues for the games.
Throughout Olympic history, we've seen that once the games are over, these venues often become abandoned, crumbling as they go unused.
Take a look at photos below of some past Olympic venues and villages, in cities like Rio de Janeiro, Pyeongchang, Beijing, Athens, and Sarajevo, and how they have become abandoned.
Sam Belden and Emmett Knowlton contributed to this report.
In 2016, Rio de Janeiro hosted the first Olympic Games in Latin America in nearly 40 years.
Buda Mendes/Getty
In January 2020, a Brazilian judge ordered the closure of the venues in the Olympic park over safety concerns.
Lucas Dumphreys/AP Images
Source: BBC
As of 2017, debris from the demolished media center hadnt been cleaned up.
Mario Tama/Getty
Many Olympic sites are littered with rusty metal.
Mario Tama/Getty
Maracana Stadium, where the football tournament was held.
Mario Lobao/AP
The grass is almost completely dry.
Mario Lobao/AP
Looters ransacked the stadium back in January, taking items like televisions, fire extinguishers and a statue.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
Source: BBC
Aquatics facilities are also in disrepair.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
The facilities have been stripped down and remain bare.
Buda Mendes/Getty
Inside, the stadium is deserted. Puddles of stagnant water cover the floors, creating a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Buda Mendes/Getty
The facilitys exterior isnt much better. The city was supposed to tear down the aquatics stadium soon after the Olympics, but no progress has been made so far.
Buda Mendes/Getty
The Olympic golf course is mostly deserted. There are sometimes only three or four groups playing at a time.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
Source: Golf.com
The course cost around $20 million to build.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
Source: Golf.com
Olympic signage continues to loom throughout the city.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
A view of Rio from the mostly abandoned Olympic Park.
Buda Mendes/Getty
Thousands of apartments in Rios Olympic Village were unoccupied after the games.
Renata Brito/AP
An abandoned water tank.
Mario Tama/Getty
Cleaning up Guanabara Bay was a big part of Rios successful bid to host the Games.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
Source: One of the sites for the 2016 Summer Olympics is completely filthy, and it's going to stay that way
Lying in Rios rubble are thousands of pamphlets from the Games scars of an Olympics that proved to be more than the city bargained for.
Mario Tama/Getty
Pyeongchang has also felt the impact of hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics. Many of the venues, like the site of the downhill skiing events below, have gone under-used since the games.
Yelim Lee/AFP/Getty Images
The inside of the speed-skating arena is now reportedly dark and ice-less.
Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images
The gondola lift terminal is now blocked off by barbed wire.
Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images
There are arguments in South Korea about the future and upkeep of the venues, as many of the winter sports simply havent caught on in the region. Protest banners were hung on the fencing surrounding the Jeongseon Alpine Center.
Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP
Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1984.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
One decade later, civil war broke out amid the breakup of what was the country of Yugoslavia.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Some of the Olympic venues were repurposed and used as military facilities.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Source: REUTERS
The bobsled facility was turned into an artillery stronghold during the war.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Source: REUTERS
The heavily graffitied course is sometimes used for BMX races.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
A dog walks past the Kosevo Stadium, where the opening ceremonies were held.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
And weeds grow over the walls of the Kosevo Stadium.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
The abandoned ski jump at Mount Igman.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Seating is overrun with grass and weeds.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Another angle of the ski jump.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
The track itself is covered in debris.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
This is whats left of the figure skating facility, Zetra Hall.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and will host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
REUTERS/David Gray
A sign from the area where the baseball stadium once stood.
REUTERS/David Gray
A stray dog on a field that was once inside the baseball stadium.
REUTERS/David Gray
A makeshift broom in what was once an Olympic "green area."
REUTERS/David Gray
Tourists next to the rings in a former "green area" from the Olympics.
REUTERS/David Gray
The parking lot for the cycling stadium is now used for driving tests.
REUTERS/David Gray
Source: REUTERS
The BMX park has been overgrown and a car company now rents out the site.
Simon Song/South China Morning Post/Getty Images
A rusting sign from the kayaking facility.
REUTERS/David Gray
A security guard with a flat tire from his bicycle at the kayaking venue.
REUTERS/David Gray
Source: REUTERS
The three empty poles in the left of the shot once flew country flags of medal-winning Olympians.
REUTERS/David Gray
Source: REUTERS
The BMX facility.
REUTERS/David Gray
Many of their stadiums are shut out from the public, like the beach volleyball facility.
REUTERS/David Gray
A promotional banner for beach volleyball still stands.
REUTERS/David Gray
Panels on the outside of the beach volleyball facility are falling off.
REUTERS/David Gray
A boat sails past the stands and observation tower from the rowing facility.
REUTERS/David Gray
Two mascots of the games now live in the woods...
Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images
The polluted waters near the facility.
REUTERS/David Gray
Athens went $15 billion over its budget to prepare for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis
Source: IMF
Greece shouldered the cost overruns, and many of the facilities have fallen into disuse.
YouTube
Source: Bloomberg
The Olympic Village is abandoned.
Milos Bicanski/Getty Images
The city planned to turn the Olympic Village into public housing.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Source: Telegraph
Thousands of families applied to live there, but the whole project fell through.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Source: Telegraph
Seating areas are overgrown with weeds.
REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis
And stairs and covered in rust.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
The canoe and kayak facility was the first in Olympic history to be filled with saltwater rather than freshwater.
REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis
Source: New York Times
Now its abandoned.
Milos Bicanski/Getty Images
And dry in patches.
REUTERS/David Gray
Theres graffiti everywhere.
AP
Beach volleyball practice courts are growing wild.
REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis
The beach volleyball venue from a distance.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
The inside is just as bad,
REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis
Like other venues, vegetation is taking over.
REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis
Weeds are everywhere.
REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis
A diving center is drained.
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
A pool at the Olympic Village is filthy.
Milos Bicanski/Getty Images
And polluted.
Milos Bicanski/Getty Images
Frogs have found homes, at least.
AP
The tracks are still used by some, but it doesnt mean theyre in good shape.
REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis
The field hockey facility.
AP
And an old podium.
REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
In Turin, where the 2006 Winter Olympics were held, the Olympic village isnt abandoned, but became housing for migrants and refugees.
Siegfried Modol/Reuters
Read more: The 2006 Turin Olympics athletes village is now home to over 1,000 African migrants and refugees
It wasnt planned for such. After a migration program ended, many migrants and refugees were left without a place to go, so they took over the abandoned apartments.
Siegfried Modola/Reuters
Some spaces have been repurposed as classrooms where the occupants learn English and Italian.
Siegfried Modola/Reuters
However, some of the buildings appeared to be cleared by Italian police in July 2019.
Stefano Guidi/Getty Images
As buildings were cleared by police, items were discarded into the surrounding areas.
Stefano Guidi/Getty Images
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