An Olympic Disaster (Material Offered to National Press)

Back when I was a full-time writer, I was looking for any commission I could get. Unfortunately, not knowing what a 'commission' was - did you write it first and then sell it, or did you come up with an idea and then sell it, promising to write it a bit later? I can't tell you; if I could, I'd be doing that for a living. But I thought I'd try it the long way round, writing apposite and well-researched articles newspaper editors could dig out as necessary. This one tries to draw a parallel between the utter disaster of the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the huge disaster London 2012 would be. Well, it was 2007, you couldn't blame me.

AN OLYMPIC DISASTER

By Christopher Stanley

  In November 2006, the city of Montreal in Canada finished paying for the Olympic Games. Allowing for inflation, the city and its inhabitants paid close to $2 billion, not a bad price compared to the projected £9 billion London’s 2012 Games is going to cost. But Montreal staged the Games in 1976, and it took thirty years to consign it to the history books.

   The last major athletic event held by the Canadians had been the 1954 Commonwealth Games, and even though the country had bid for events in the past, it had been continually overlooked. It lost to Munich in the race for the 1972 Olympics. So there was joy in 1970 when the International Olympic Committee finally gave the rights to the 1976 Games to Montreal, in the French speaking province of Quebec.

   Montreal was eager to be recognised. As the flagship city of Quebec, it held a place of honour for French speaking Canadians. The mayor of the city, Jean Drapeau, was a visionary who bought a world Expo and a new metro system to the city. Montreal was also a major Canadian transport hub. It should have been a match made in heaven.

   The preparations for the Games started well. After the fuss had died down, the organisers hired renowned French architect Roger Tallibert to design the facilities. A man with vast experience, Tallibert’s design for the Olympic Stadium was revolutionary, incorporating the tallest inclined tower in the world to hold the world’s first retractable stadium roof.

   The city had reasons to be confident. After the 1972 Games, which saw a terrorist attack end in tragedy and the German city of Munich out of pocket, the moneymen calculated that even with increased security costs and a revamp of the city’s facilities, the Olympic Games would cost just $310 million – a snip for the prestige it would bring the city.

   Jean Drapeau expected the money for the Games to come from a new Quebec state lottery, and began talking up the potential for a profit-making Games. At a press conference, Drapeau amazed the assembled press by grandly claiming he expected Montreal’s Games to be the first Olympics to make money, and he was later to seal his and the city’s fate by announcing ‘The Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby.’

   Things began to unravel quickly from this moment onwards. Overconfidence had blinded the city’s fathers, and they began to predict certain success before everything was planned properly. Costs began to mount up, and the revolutionary stadium began to have a revolution of its own.

   Work on the complex structure had begun well, and was ahead of schedule when the workers downed tools and went on strike over pay. This alone cost the organisers $400-500 million, more than the projected budget. It turned out that the design was too ahead off its time; it wasn’t until the 1990’s that stadium technology was able to boast the ability to retract a roof. The tower that housed the roof was too heavy; designed completely of concrete, it was in danger of toppling over before a steel skeleton was inserted to hold it up.

   Montreal’s finances were in trouble. The IOC do not help a host financially in any way, and the city was nearly bankrupt. Eventually, the Quebec state government stepped in and levied a tobacco tax, but it was clear that the Olympics had been removed from the city’s grasp to avoid embarrassment.

   By the time the Queen opened the 1976 Olympics, the construction workers were still in the stadium, putting whatever finishing touches they could while the athletes took part in the opening ceremony. If Montreal thought it could breathe a sigh of relief, it was in for a huge shock.

   On the eve of the Games, most African countries boycotted the Games in protest at New Zealand’s participation; the All Blacks rugby union team had toured South Africa during apartheid. There would be no games without a formal protest until 1992, in Barcelona. Montreal saw the start of that unfortunate trend.

   A few days after the flame was lit, usually the only thing in the Olympics people can rely on, a huge rain-storm hit the city and put out the flame. A Canadian official used his lighter to bring the flame back, but it had to be doused again and relit from a backup of the Olympic flame.

   The stadium also suffered from the weather, since the roof wasn’t ready yet. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be used until 1988, some twelve years after the Games had left the city. Eventually, a giant cap was placed over the hole, but the Olympic Stadium is still known in the city as “the big owe,” after its cost and shape.

   But when all is said and done, it’s the sport that is supposed to matter at the Olympics, and it was the reason the world’s press had descended on Montreal. Even Princess Anne would be competing at the Games, in the Equestrian events. After the sporting triumphs at Munich, surely Montreal would see some top quality sportsmanship? Unfortunately not.

   1976 would be remembered only for its lack of sparkle and its associated scandals. A Soviet fencer, Major Boris Onischenko, had rigged up his swords to register hits whenever he pressed a button, and had to be disqualified. Hardly any records were broken, and it was left to a fifteen year old Romanian gymnast, Nadia Comaneci, to put some personality on an otherwise forgettable Games.

   After the Olympic Games left Montreal, it affected the city for years to come. After the organisation debacle, Toronto had to host the Paralympic Games of 1976. Still taxpayers money poured into the bottomless pit of Montreal’s Olympic Games, the debt confirmed at over $1 billion; some way above original estimates.

   Nowadays, as Montreal waves goodbye to its Olympic legacy, the Olympic complex isn’t well used. The stadium has no major sports franchise, and instead is known as North America’s biggest exhibition venue. The retractable roof never worked, and never will. The city would tear it down, if it wouldn’t cost as much as it did to build.

   Apart from fringe benefits, Montreal got nothing but notoriety from hosting the Olympic Games. Yet echoes of Canadian mistakes and mismanagement can be seen in London’s preparations for 2012. Our Olympics are expected to go wildly over-budget, preparations are progressing slowly, and even Roger Tallibert, the architect that helped bring Montreal’s finances to near-bankruptcy, has said he expects London’s Olympics to be a disaster. Another pointer is that London organisers have yet to decide on the future of the Olympic stadium, which may become a white elephant surrounded by so many top-class venues in London already.

   But the scariest thing is this. In 1976, the Montreal Games saw no gold medals for any Canadian athlete, the first time a host country came away with no winners. This was probably the most embarrassing statistic for the entire country. We must pray in five years time that Britain doesn’t see a similar disaster to the one that befell Montreal.