Africa Needs 2020 Olympic Games - Research Paper Example

Africa Needs 2020 Olympic Games The Olympic Games are the biggest international sporting event today. Originally designed to “link sport with culture and education; promote the practice of sport and the joy found in sport and the joy found in effort; and help to build a better world through sport practiced in a spirit of peace, excellence, friendship and respect” (Olympic Museum, 2007), it is surprising to many to learn that an entire continent has been left out of the Olympic roles. This oversight should be recognized by awarding Africa the 2020 Olympic Summer Games. For each country, hosting the Olympic Games represents honor, recognition and a great deal of much-needed tourism dollars. Although the Games, once brought forward from their dusty past in antiquity, were initially held in mostly Western European nations, the Olympic Museum (2007) reports that they “have now been held on every continent except Africa.” However, Africa, as a continent, could use the attention, and the money, more than any other continent today. The Western World tends to think of Africa in terms of the images we see on TV. These images are full of small children with distended tummies as they sit on the dirt floors of their tiny huts trying to ignore the flies that gather around their starving and barely-clad bodies. As was pointed out by Enwezor (2005), a scholar on the subject of photojournalism, “The global media almost never depict contemporary Africans in ordinary situations; images of crisis frequently eclipse other representations.” Contrary to this impression, though, there are numerous Africans who live lives very similar to the experiences to be found in the West, complete with brick houses, running water and full-time electricity. However, the limited space available for international news combined with the desperate conditions of Africa’s poor have convinced many in the mainstream media that this poverty is where the attention should be focused. In the past, African countries have been rejected in their Olympic bids citing lack of appropriate facilities for hosting. However, some feel this is more rhetoric than reality. There are a number of more developed African cities preparing to make a bid for future Olympic Games. These include cities in Egypt and Kenya as well as the South African cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. South Africa also has some precedent set regarding their ability to host larger events. Since 1994 (and the fall of Apartheid), the nation has hosted the Rugby World Cup, the African Cup of Nations, the Cricket World Cup and will be hosting football’s World Cup next month. It is partially because of the way South Africa has managed to successfully host these events that enables officials to downplay concerns about economic impact. “The argument was that any World Cup on the African continent will lead to huge financial losses. Therefore, Africa must wait,” said Danny Jordaan, South Africa 2010 organizing committee chief executive officer (South Africa, 2009). “This event, because of television, is actually without boundaries and without borders. And so you can return the value of the investment in New York and Miami and London and Paris, and all over the world. If we dismiss the (financial loss) argument for the World Cup, we’ve dismissed it also for the Olympics.” There is a strong argument being pushed forward these days that the economic benefit commonly held regarding the Olympic Games is a conflated figure and that the Olympics, rather than leading to gains, can easily introduce losses for the hosting community. Just to host the games, the selected city is expected make a great number of investments in their infrastructure, which is an even greater impact in cities that have yet to build many of the facilities needed. This is not just the creation of appropriate sporting venues, but also housing and security for the athletes and sufficient accommodations for visitors and media broadcasting. According to Jeffrey Owen of The Industrial Geographer (2005), “Ex-post studies have consistently found no evidence of positive economic impacts from mega-sporting events even remotely approaching the estimates in economic impact studies.” This was the case for Beijing, which was selected to host the 2008 Olympics. Yet, investigations conducted following the games determined that China experienced a net gain (Olympic Games, 2009). Businesses moved into the area in anticipation of the coming games, industries throughout the country were cleaned up and the Chinese people received a significant boost in morale and nationalism that has led to increased ownership and participation. In preparing for the World Cup and other events hosted in their cities in the past decade, South Africa has had the opportunity to get started on some of the necessary infrastructure requirements and sports venues. The country has been working to develop a high-speed train that will link Johannesburg with Pretoria that would be finished by 2020 to help with transportation issues, including police and a holding cell in the last car of every train to protect passengers against crime. New and upgraded airports are coming online with increases made in the number of airplanes and buses for even greater transportation accommodation. And, of course, the stadium required for the World Cup match has already been constructed. Where the country still needs to make improvements is in the areas of security, hotel accommodations and additional sports facilities. Although the economic impact may remain doubtful, what the Beijing Olympics proved for developing nations was both that such an event could be hosted successfully in these areas and that the benefits of the Games depends largely on how much the country as a whole is willing to buy into it. In spite of the continued shortcomings, though, and those of other African nations also considering entering an Olympic bid, the Olympic committee has expressed interest in bringing the Olympics to the ‘dark continent’ at some point in the future when the infrastructure is clearly in place or could be implemented within the time frame between city selection and event and when the people as a whole seem to be engaged in the possibility. By hosting the Olympic Games, Africa as a continent would be able to break some of the strong social stereotypes that have served to keep them out of the tourism cycle. According to Westbrook (2002), “the photograph has affected the way many cultures throughout the world understand and learn about their world.” By altering the images associated with Africa today by replacing them with a more modern, familiar cityscape of a society capable of hosting the magnitude of the Olympic Games, African nations may actually see greater economic impact than the most pessimistic of estimates may project. More importantly, by seeing themselves as an important figure on the world stage, Africans everywhere will gain a greater sense of pride and be less apt to view themselves as victim and more in terms of proactive shapers of destiny. References Enwezor, Okwui. (2005). “Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Society.” The Museum at the International Center of Photography. May 11, 2010 Olympic Museum staff. (2007). “The Modern Olympic Games.” The Olympic Museum. Available May 11, 2010 Owen, Jeffrey G. (Fall 2005). “Estimating the Cost and Benefit of Hosting Olympic Games: What Can Beijing Expect from its 2008 Games?” Industrial Geographer. Available May 11, 2010 “South Africa may bid to host 2020 Olympics.” (October 22, 2009). The Independent. Available May 11, 2010 < http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/south-africa-may-bid-to-host-2020-olympics-1807051.html> “The Olympic Games: Will Rio Benefit as much as Beijing?” (November 4, 2009). Leadership and Change. Pennsylvania: Wharton School. Available May 11, 2010 Westbrook, Dillon. (2002). “A Brief History of Photojournalism.” Photography Schools. May 11, 2010 Read More