Go Istanbul!

I remember the excitement I felt when Athens was awarded the 2004 Olympic Games on 5 September 1997...I felt happy, inspired and hopeful about the adventure my country was getting into...its chance to shine, and actually work on much need urban development projects such as roads, ring highways, a subway, etc. as well as build state of the art sport facilities..the Games came albeit the wasteful public spending of our ever enlightened public officials and I had the opportunity to enjoy athletics, volleyball, basketball, and water polo in different venues and become proud of my city with its volunteers, transport system, smoke free venues....The colorful and joyous atmosphere in the Olympic stadium where we were all citizens of the world in spite of our different national affiliations is a once in a lifetime experience I am glad to have lived. it was a magical three weeks in a magical summer...'Yes, we can when we set our minds to it' was the prevailing sentiment...then the hard times came and the debts and the inability of the state to exploit its wonderful facilities and the political, economic, and moral bankruptcy of our times...

The decision on 7 September by the Olympic Committee as to which city will host the 2020 Games has spurred these thoughts...I wholeheartedly hope that Istanbul, the city that has adopted me for three years now, would get the nod to host the 2020 Games...and that it finds a way to control their runaway costs, their environmental impact, the havoc the construction would cause to this historic city and its denizens, and the post Games exploitation of the venues and other infrastructure the games entail as well as the social capital in terms of human resources that would be trained and shaped by the games. The legacy is ultimately the test of success or failure...

Comments

Karabekir said…
I wholeheartedly hope that Istanbul doesn't get the Olympics. It would only reinforce the government's resolve to push with disastrous urban regeneration and infrastructure projects and the privatisation/commercialisation of public land. There would be no stopping contractors-turned-pseudo-architects from finally laying their hands on the city's last remaining green belt. It would render the city even more unbreathable and ultimately uninhabitable. Under the existing dynamics the Olympics would only hasten Istanbul's slow, painful death.
September 6, 2013 at 2:53:00 PM GMT+2
Dimitrios Triantaphyllou said…
Dear Karabekir,
Why are you discounting the potential and influence of the social capital that has found a voice with the Gezi events and should be getting mobilized to hold the authorities that be accountable?...the Games are given to a city after all...a tall order you may say but a necessary one to change the dynamics somewhat...to make the playing field more balance...after all we live in a glocal world where the city and its citizens have a voice that needs to be listened to (potentially)as well. The Olympics is a community project as much as a grand scheme, after all.
September 6, 2013 at 3:18:00 PM GMT+2
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