The Olympics: Broken and Unwanted

Beijing won the 2022 Winter Games after cities accountable to their taxpayers dropped out of the race

A Chinese paramilitary policeman tries to block photos being taken of a military parade rehearsal, outside the Olympic Stadium in Beijing on July 21. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

The future of the Olympics is here. Democratic countries are wary of hosting them due to the monetary weight on taxpayers, and authoritarian nations jump on them for the opportunity to boost their images abroad and their legitimacy at home.

When the votes were cast on the host cities of the 2022 Winter Olympics, only two out of the original eight remained: Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan. The decision was close, but Beijing won 44 to 40.

As was expected, one by one, the cities and regions in democratic countries—Stockholm, Krakow, Oslo, and Graubünden in Switzerland—withdrew their bids, leading to Beijing being the only city in history ever chosen to hold both a Summer Games and a Winter Games.

Although China is faced with the same global economic woes as the rest of the world, Gordon Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” said the Chinese regime’s reason for wanting the Olympics is simple, “Beijing craves legitimization, like all authoritarian regimes do.”

“Why else would they be willing to spend billions of dollars on something that nobody else wants?” Chang said, in a phone interview.

Democratic Voice

Lack of public support seemed to be the kicker for some cities deciding against hosting the Olympics. When Boston withdrew its bid from the 2024 Summer Games, U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun wrote in a July 27 statement that they were unable to “get a majority of the citizens of Boston” to support hosting the games.

For a free nation, the spectacle of the Olympics is a liability that involves spending tax dollars on a global event that brings little return and decades of debt.