Success Threatens Olympic Games.

• Position: Brief Article

The Olympic Games are in danger because of their success, maintains Phillip Henson, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University, Bloomington. He has firsthand knowledge of this international event, having served as the track and field director for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. "My concern is that the Olympics are getting so large that they will collapse upon themselves, which is exactly what happened to the ancient Olympics. The ancient Olympic Games existed for 1,200 to 1,400 years, before politics, professionalism, and religion brought about their termination. Almost 2,775 years later, we are facing many of these same issues with the modern Olympic Games."

Henson, who has more than 20 years of experience with the Olympic movement, says host cities are struggling to provide the resources necessary to stage the Games. "The way the Olympics are growing, no city will be large enough to provide the needed hotel space, infrastructure, transportation, and venues."

Steps that should be taken, he suggests, include eliminating sports that really don't belong...