Brazil Olympics, a challenging Project?

In the bigger picture of things there is a whole side of the Olympics that most folks never see and it is not very pretty. The discoveries, I have made in visiting multiple host cities was an eye opening experience. Unfortunately, what is actually being seen in Rio has happened to an extent in other cities it is just more visible in Rio because there really is more of a human toll that is being seen that is never accounted for in all of the planning for the Olympics.

Here are two other examples of the human cost of the Olympics for a host city that is most likely never considered in the event planning or "it is just the cost of doing business".

In one of the cases the transportation project which was launched to move people around to various Olympic venues went through the heart of the downtown. This area was also struggling financially and many businesses had already given up and moved or closed so the businesses that were left when the project moved in were just killed off, because there was no planning to help them survive. The project totally cut off vehicular access to the stores. These people were residents of the city and their livelihoods were sacrificed for a two week event. After the Olympics was over and there was a slow economic revival for that downtown area, but for the former shop owners there was no economic revival.

In another city a year before the Olympics all of the apartment landlords were telling their residents their leases would end in June and they could have another one in September. If they wanted to rent the apartment during the Olympics they would have to pay three times the current rental rate. Now these folks were all of the service industry workers who were going to be serving, waiting on, and cleaning rooms, for all of the visitors to the Olympics in a city with marginal public transportation.

The economic costs to being a resident of a host city are very rarely visible to those who watch the games from a distance.

Enter your comments related to project management comments try to avoid politics issues.

Regarding the challenge of organizing the Olympics, I consider that Brazil is responding very well, I think being a great success.

But at first I do not see to be a great contribution to the country's economic growth.

I see it as a good experience in major event management importance and complexity of the country.

Despite the contribution as a complex venture project, unfortunately I do not think being a great opportunity for Projects, Project Managers and Project Management own.

In this aspect, Brazil has good opportunities in other large projects in several areas, spread across the country.

Understanding the overall financial impact of such a grand gala event as olympics will take years to realize. I read somewhere that the London olympics and the winter olympics @ Sochi did not pay back as much as originally anticipated. IMO, all the benefits are not financially realizable, there are intangibles. Overall, I think it is a major boost for a developing nation like Brazil and shows that they can come together an host a big event with all its logistical and infrastructural challenges. Kudos Brazil!