The Most Memorable Olympic Host Cities and Their Legacies

The Olympics, both Summer and Winter Games, only come around every four years respectively, so the host nations must make their mark while they have the attention of the world. Time and time again, we’ve seen both the good and the bad from hosting the Olympics in different cities, although it’s a great learning experience that makes for great memories.

Unfortunately (depending on your perspective) not all cities get remembered for their spectacular hosting of the Olympic games. It’s not easy, but the nations that seamlessly host the best Olympic Games will always be remembered and will leave a legacy that last’s forever.

2008 Summer Olympics – Beijing, China

The 2008 Summer Games held in Beijing, China was an event to remember. With the addition of BMX racing and 10km marathon swimming, Beijing would build new venues including the incredible Bird’s Nest Stadium and Water Cube, both of which are monumental sights to behold. Not only would Beijing make it hard to replicate such an important urban sports environment, but the 2008 Olympics in Beijing slowly helped to promote Olympic values by boosting volunteerism and developing talents.

By the end of this Olympics, China had claimed the most gold medals, showing what the host country was capable of on all fronts. In addition to it all, Beijing would capture the bid for the 2022 Winter Games due to its success, reusing five of its venues from 2008 for sustainability purposes.

2000 Summer Olympics – Sydney, Australia

The Sydney-based 2000 Summer Olympics were the first to include women’s weightlifting, pentathlon and pole vault, making it a revolutionary moment for the beginning of the 21st century Olympic Games. Not only was the city revolutionary in its ethics and inclusion principles, but some of their main venues, including the Sydney Super Dome, introduced large-scale photovoltaic energy systems, allowing the stadium to run off solar energy. Along with these new sports and industry-changing sustainable technology, Australia was able to showcase its cultural diversity in its highly urbanized areas, making it a picture-perfect Olympic model for other cities wanting to host overseas.

1984 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles, United States

While you may not think so, the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, USA were not only one of the most memorable, but one of the most influential. New sports included in the 1984 summer competition were the women’s Olympic marathon and wheelchair racing, along with rhythmic gymnastics becoming an independent standalone event for the first time. This Olympics was the first ever to have all the athletes living together in a single Olympic Village instead of being divided by race, gender, ethnicity, etc.

By this time in the Olympic Games, a new financial model had been created for all the future Olympics to follow suit, and women had started to become fully integrated into Olympic Sports as well. The most important takeaway from this 1984 LA Olympic Games experience was their use of existing infrastructure to support large-scale events, such as the Rose Bowl and Memorial Coliseum – both existing college stadiums in California. This created a sustainable business model for all future cities to host the Olympic games as long as they followed a similar model, making the 1984 Summer Olympics in LA one of the most memorable Olympic host cities to date, and rightfully hosting the coming 2028 Summer Olympics as a result.