Olympic Games Ruins of the 20th Century Part 1

In my searching through Olympic history, I’ve looked at hundreds of sites, thousands of images and many dozens of articles about virtually everything Olympics related.

By far, the saddest images are from Games of the past. In their day, they were glorious venues, presented with great pomp and circumstance. Places that, it was said, would "Live for the Ages."

Now, history tells a different story. It’s unbelievably sad what's happened to many of the sites and venues that, just a few short years ago, were the pristine stages for the only true worldwide athletic competitions.

This story will be told in parts. Part 1 covers 1936 to 1982. Rather than a lengthy narrative, I’ve decided to simply let the images tell the story.

So, let’s dive in...beginning with the 1936 Berlin Summer Games.

Swimming pool for 1936 Berlin Games. Considering its age, it's not the worst venue. But, you'd think that in the 82 years since this pool was used, they'd have done SOMETHING else with it!

Athlete housing for 1936 Games in Berlin. Again, so much time has passed. Seems these facilities for athlete housing would have either been torn down or replaced with something else.

The springboards and platforms are long gone from this 1952 site in Helsinki, but there's plenty of water to fill the pool. Granted, Helsinki's not the warmest climate. Maybe they could use it for the Polar Bear events popular in that part of the world.

Athlete's Village for 1960 Rome Games. Yeah, it is abandoned, but it's become the place where a lot of refugees have gathered. Little bit of work, it'd look just fine, least on the outside.

The ski jump for the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France. Mother Nature's just about reclaimed this venue. The countryside is gorgeous. One day, there will be no evidence at all of this venue's existence.

This is the warming hut for the bobsled venue in Sapporo, 1972. At least the Olympic Rings have survived.

In 1972, the Summer Games were in Munich, Germany. This was the terminus for the special railroad line that was built to ferry the crowds to the venues.

Coming up next are images from Sarajevo.

See You Next Time

Kate Dansyng

Please note that these Olympic posts are a collaborative effort between Webrydr and myself. We have created original narrative. The photographs posted here were taken from Public Domain and every effort was made to stay away from copyrighted images.