The 2018 Winter Olympics started on Thursday, February 8 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. It is the 31st Olympic Winter Games and the first time South Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics. This is the second Olympics in the country overall, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in the nation’s capital, Seoul.

After the medals have been awarded and the athletes have all gone home until the next games, host cities are left with massive leftover stadiums and venues. After that, it’s often hard to find a use for giant stadiums, pools, and courses. Sometimes cities are able to successfully repurpose parts of their Olympic set-ups, but oftentimes these giant investments are torn down or abandoned.

Athens went almost $15 billion over its planned budget of $1.6 billion for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The Greek government had to pay for everything, and, sadly, there just wasn’t any use for most of the
buildings, stadiums, and courses after the games.

Many venues, like the beach volleyball court, are simply closed to the public. Half of the Beijing National Aquatics Center was eventually remodeled and turned into a water park. Beijing said that they will reuse the National Stadium for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which they’re hosting. It will be the first stadium to host both Summer and Winter Olympics and Paralympics opening ceremonies.

London hosted the Summer Olympics back in 2012. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was fully opened to the public in 2014 after many renovations. The Olympic village, where the athletes stayed, has been turned into apartments. The Olympic Stadium was renovated and became the new home of the West Ham United Football Club in 2016.
The last Winter Olympics were held in 2014 in Russia’s largest resort city, Sochi. They were the most expensive Games in history, costing the Russian government $50 billion. The Fisht Stadium was originally a dome but was converted to an open-air stadium for the 2018 FIFA World Cup this July.

The last Summer Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the summer of 2016. In less than two years, venues have become a ghost town. Maracana stadium was renovated for the Olympics but abandoned shortly after. There are reports of vandals stealing seats and TVs. Parts of the Olympic complex have become a health hazard after their destruction, like the Rio Media Center. The site remained untouched for months — six months after the closing ceremony, and trash from the
Games was still visible.

These nationally known sports complexes are simply left to rot once the games and the press leave. it shows what happens to these archeological wonders after the Olympic torch has gone out.