Do we really need such an overblown Olympics?

12/08/2008

I have been watching the current Olympic Games and marvelling, not only at the success of our athletes, but the cost of it all.
 
The Chinese government has spent the equivalent of billions of pounds and displaced thousands of families to make this event happen.  Moreover, we already have signs of the same costs and even some displacement in preparation for London in 2012.
 
Do we need such extravagant expenditure for what is basically a large athletics meeting?
 
We are preaching carbon emission reduction, yet if we are to match the grand opening ceremony that we have just seen and the closing one to come, we will be expending even more than China has.  This on top of the building costs.
 
Is it not time to take the lead and offer a simple Olympic games in the spirit of the original?
 
The money saved could be used for the benefit of the people old, disabled and generally underprivileged who are at the bottom of the heap every time. 
 
Eileen Ward-Birch