Brisbane 2032 - Olympic-sized white elephants

Montreal, 1976:suffered huge cost overruns (estimated 720% cost over-run) leaving the city with $1.5 billion of debt that took 30 years to erase.

Barcelona, 1992: left the central Spanish Government with $4 billion in debt (estimated 266% cost over-run), and the city and provincial governments an additional $2.1 billion in the red.

Nagano, 1998:The full cost of the Nagano Olympics will never be known, because the documents accounting for money spent on the Olympic bid were burnt on the orders of Nagano's Olympic Committee vice-secretary general. It was vastly over budget and, as a result, Nagano fell into recession.

Sydney, 2000:The Australian state auditor estimated the Games' true long-term debt was $2.2 billion. Australian officials predicted that tourism would quadruple after the Games, but there was no boost at all.

Athens, 2004:vastly exceeded its $4.6 billion budget. Assessment puts the real accrued debt of roughly $15 billion and contributed to Greece's subsequent financial crisis.

Beijing (2008):Broke all spending records with an estimated bill of US$50 billion. Many elaborate venues such as the 'Birds Nest' have not achieved the hoped for legacy outcomes. In Beijing, few details were spared. Along Jing Shun Lu, a formerly dusty road in the capital's suburbs, the government spent $30 million for an Olympics facelift, including trees, flowers and an ornamental wall. The road is a secondary access route to the city's airport, and near the rowing venue. People who used to live along the road have been given a small sum in compensation and forced to move.

London 2012:Had a bill of just under $15 billion, 76% overbudget. The promised tourism and economic boom did not eventuate.

Rio de Janeiro 2016: estimated costs US$14billion - 352% cost overrun. The bid was made at a time of economic buoyancy and delivered at a time of economic stress for Brazil. Professor Katia Rubio (University of São Paulo) concluded that "in the end, there was nothing else. It was a big boost that ultimately led to nothing".

Tokyo 2020/21: The original bid committee estimate for the Games was US$7.3 billion (2013). The 2020, COVID-19, postponement alone added US$2.8 billion to the budget. Japan's National Audit Board reported the final cost is likely to be more than US$22 billion.

And forget all the hooey about providing essential infrastructure for Brisbane.

Past Olympic Games show that it is a case of one big white elephant spawning a host a smaller white elephants in the form of under-utilised and decaying facilities (stadiums, athlete villages) that were purpose-built for the Games but are not good for much else. This can be seen in Host Cities such as in Sarajevo, Athens, Beijing and Rio to name a few.

One of the unseen costs of the Games is the dislocation they cause people's lives in the preparation and construction of huge mega stadiums and venues.