You would think that the lessons of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles would have been taken to heart.
http://stupidevilbastard.com/2015/09/the-remains-of-olympics-past/
Aside from the lesson that "Pastels are cool" and "Flextime schedules alleviate freeway crowding," the '84 Olympics in LA taught the lesson that you can run a pretty reasonable global sporting event if you already have venues you are willing to use, rather than building lots of massive sports arenas that will then slowly decay alongside your municipal credit rating.
The Olympics are an amazing event, and I would hate to see them end. But the pressure to use them as a huge and pointless infrastructure construction project, driven by the IOC's demands of candidate venues, is rapidly making them an obsolete way to build civic pride and national fame, let alone celebrate the glory of amateur sports.
Indeed. The Olympics have become a big dollar show of pride. Athletes? Don't seem all that important anymore.