Several months ago the UK was putting on a show for the world. Ex pats became British again to revel in the glory of the Olympic spectacular and take pride in the place that they had left.
So WTF has just happened?
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/l...114027038.html

Are they seriously saying that this stadium will gather dust and not be used for anything until 2016. Im sure the UK residents and taxpayers will be wondering how could this happen and that they were really bent over and shafted by all those involved.

Personally taxpayers should never pay for the Olympics when crap like this happens. Toronto politicians are you listening?

Should the atheletes pay for it? If not, who should?

Good question. Isnt the Olympics now all about getting your country on the world stage and having bragging rights till the next country decides to try and upstage the previous countrys efforts.
Yes athletes will still want to compete but they would sooner compete at other events where they get paid to compete or land endorsements.
Look at the Montreal Big Owe fiasco and how long it took to pay off that.
At least Vancouver and Calgary are still making use of their venues unlike Beijings Bird Nest stadium.

Yeah...another white elephant

On a lighter note, checkout some of these amazing stadiums

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/...152129249.html

I had the pleasure of visiting the one in La Paz Bolivia last year when I was in that part of the world taking part in other activities

Ex-pats are always British if they are British ex-pats.

Im just glad that they dont expect us to still pay taxes to the UK for cock ups such as this unless you are still making NI contributions and intend on moving back to collect a pension and bus passes etc.
And some say Canada has bad ideas or is not as modern as the UK

Are all of Vancouver's facilities being used/been transfered without issue?

Yeah but it's not. Do you get bus passes here?

I don't understand what we are supposed to be outraged about

Four parties are interested in buying it and they've been told they've got some additional work to do before the bids are accepted and it's going to be used in 2017 for the international athletics.

They do light the flame at every opportunity.

According to this they are though Im not sure about transfer issues
http://www.toronto2015.org/lang/en/g...-legacies.html

Even if the stadium is not being used for a while, the other facilities and the Olympic Park are being opened, so it doesn't seem a huge issue.

I wonder if squatters right will apply in this case? A bunch of scallywags just break in and turn it into their abode for a couple years whilst looking after it

I know a few houses in Chelsea/ Notting hill and Kensington that ended up with squatters

Oh I dont know spending 486 million quid on a venue that wont be used for several years seems a good use of taxpayers money

Is anyone really surprised that there are "legacy" issues?


I seem to recall back when London was awarded the games how the talk was that absolutely under no circumstances would the stadium end up hosting a footy team, it was to be a home for UK athletics like Crystal Palace once was. Yeah right, I though...

Having it sit vacant for several years until the 2017 athletics doesnt seem to me to be a fiscally responsible decision, there not much return on investment to be had there.