What happens to Olympic stadiums and event courses after the Games are over? Host cities spend millions of dollars on infrastructure that in some cases gets unused years after medals are awarded and spectators have moved on to the next Olympics.
Even at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a shopping and dining pavilion at Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic village went unused a week ahead of the Games because of a ban on foreign visitors.
A shopping and dining pavilion that will now go unused because of a ban on foreign visitors is pictured at Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic village on January 25, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
The below photos show frozen-in-time moments at abandoned Olympic venues months and years after their use.
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This photo, taken on July 20, 2018, shows Huanhuan, one of five mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, lying amongst trees behind an abandoned, never-completed mall in Beijing. - A decade after Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympics, its legacy remains unmistakable from the smallest alleyways in the Chinese capital to the country's growing clout abroad. For better or worse, the Games changed the face of Beijing: from the iconic Bird's Nest stadium to the countless blocks of ancient homes bulldozed in an Olympic building frenzy. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
This photo taken on July 20, 2018 shows Fu Niu Lele, the mascot for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, lying amongst trees behind an abandoned, never-completed mall in Beijing. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY - AUGUST 11: The abandoned Historic Bobsleigh Track for the Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 on August 11, 2021 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The Bobsleigh track was constructed in 1910 and was renovated in 1933 before being used for the Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936. The track was demolished in 1966, but remnants of the track can be seen on sleigh rides near the lake. (Photo by Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty Images)
The abandoned Historic Bobsleigh Track for the Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 on August 11, 2021 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (Photo by Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty Images)
Abandoned Igman Olympic jumps in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 14, 2015. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A picture taken on Feb. 5, 2014, shows Sarajevo's abandoned bob sleigh track. Built and used as an Olympic venue during Sarajevo's 1984 Winter Olympic Games, the track was heavily damaged during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP via Getty Images
General view of the former Olympic Village in Athens, Greece on July 31, 2014. Ten years earlier the XXVIII Olympiad was held in Athens from the 13th - 29th August with the motto "Welcome Home." The cost of hosting the games was estimated to be approximately 9 billion euros with the majority of sporting venues built specifically for the games. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
General view of the Olympic Aquatic Center in Athens, Greece on July 31, 2014. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
General view of the Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Center at the Helliniko Olympic complex in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
A view from the mostly abandoned Olympic Aquatics stadium at the Olympic Park on May 20, 2017, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the nine months after the Olympic games, very few events were organized in the Olympic Park venues. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
A drawing of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin can be seen on the wall of the main amphitheater in the abandoned Hindenburghaus facility where functions and cultural shows were staged at the site of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village on May 17, 2021, in Elstal, Germany. A German real estate developer called Terraplan is constructing and renovating buildings on a large portion of the former Olympic Village site in what local authorities are hoping is the first phase of investor commitment to developing the entire site. Built for the 1936 Berlin Olympics the village later served as an infantry school for the Nazi-era Wehrmacht and a military hospital during World War II. After the war the Soviet Army took it over as a military base and also as a training facility for its own Olympic athletes. A number of the original buildings still stand at the site, including housing for athletes, a swim hall, a gym, other training facilities and a theatre. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
A swimming pool lies abandoned in the former swim hall at the site of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village on May 17, 2021, in Elstal, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
A swimming pool lies abandoned in the former swim hall at the site of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village on May 17, 2021, in Elstal, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
A gymnasium hall lies abandoned at the site of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village on May 17, 2021, in Elstal, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Deserted houses for athletes in the former Olympic Village (Olympic Games 1936 in Berlin). (Photo by Martin Sachse/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Deserted houses for the athletes in the former Olympic Village (Olympic Games 1936 in Berlin). A bathroom at the Jesse Owens House. (Photo by Montag/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Abandoned Igman Olympic Jumps in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 14, 2015. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
General view of the former Olympic Village in Athens, Greece on July 31, 2014. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
Inside view of the abandoned Hindenburghaus facility where functions and cultural shows were staged at the site of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village in Elstal, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
The 2020 Fan Park at the Tokyo Olympics was supposed to be a place where spectators could go and enjoy a variety of experiences and performances. Today, the Fan Park is closed off to the public to comply with Tokyo’s state of emergency.
