The United Kingdom Olympics team shrouded themselves in glory last year. But when those athletes chartered back home, they left behind a massive Olympic complex in Rio de Janeiro. According to Deadspin, that complex is essentially a giant trash heap now, five months later.
As Deadspin reports, after pumping £500 million into the Maracanã stadium to prepare for the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics, Brazilians are left with a moldy stadium with missing seats—though it's still hosting sporting events. The Olympic golf course, which cost £16 million and was arguably unnecessary because Rio already had golf courses, is overgrown and largely unused. The auction for Barra Olympic Park, consisting of nine sporting venues, only attracted one bidder, and that bidder didn't even qualify to buy it. And the £50 million cable car that was supposed to benefit Brazilians after the Olympics was shuttered after the state stopped funding it.
Sounds like £10 million well spent, especially for a country in economic disrepair with widespread poverty, a country that can't pay its public workers and is protected by an ill-equipped police force. But hey, at least they Ryan Lochte definitely learned a lesson or two in Rio.
