Abandoned Olympic sites: These sports venues are now Lost Places

The sporting spectacle of the Olympic Games captivates many. But what happens to the sports venues after the Games? Often, forgotten stadiums, ruined hotels, and sports venues remain – most with a sad history.

The travel reporter shows venues that were built at great expense and were only filled with life for a few weeks before they were left to their own devices and became Olympic lost places.

By the way: The recent example of Paris shows that things can turn out differently after the Olympics.

When the 2004 Summer Olympics were held in Athens , the Olympic Village housed athletes from more than 200 countries. But then the financial crisis struck, and the Olympic Village, not to mention the sports venues, lay abandoned and fell into disrepair.

The apartments built for more than 10,000 athletes in the Olympic Village served as social housing for a while after the Olympic Games, but were then left to their own devices and are now a lost place.

This is what the Olympic Village in Athens 2016 looked like.

Source: imago images/ZUMA Press

The beach volleyball stadium in Athens serves as an example of the deterioration of former Olympic venues. In 2004, it had a capacity of 9,600 spectators and cost over 10 million euros to build. Today, the blue spectator seats are completely empty, and nature has reclaimed the space.

There's not much left of the glory of the 2004 Olympic Games in the volleyball arena. This photo is from 2018.

Source: imago images/Dreamstime

In 1984, the sporting world turned its attention to Sarajevo, when the Winter Olympics were held here for the first time in a socialist country. Katarina Witt won gold in figure skating, and Jens Weißflog won gold in ski jumping. And then came the shock: just a few years later, the Bosnian War broke out, and Sarajevo was besieged. Sports facilities such as the Igman Olympic Jumps ski jumps were severely damaged during the war and have remained abandoned ever since.

Some former sports venues even became theaters of war. Like the bobsleigh track, which served as an artillery post for the Bosnian Serb army and was therefore no longer known for its Olympic history, but for bullet holes and mines in the surrounding forests.

2016: Abandoned Olympic bobsleigh track with graffiti in Sarajevo.

Source: imago images/Zoonar

The Hotel Igman, built specifically for the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, is now nothing more than a huge, gray lost place. Its 162 rooms once housed some of the world's best athletes. But Mount Igman, on which the hotel stands, was heavily contested during the war, and the hotel itself was engulfed in flames during the fighting. To this day, the dilapidated concrete colossus stands as a memorial.

A lot has happened since the Igman Olympic Hotel in Sarajevo began hosting top athletes.

Source: imago images/Dreamstime

The glory that swept through Herndon Stadium during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA, has long been forgotten. The stadium opened in 1948 and was expanded and renovated for the Olympic Games. Field hockey matches were played at this venue. But that is long history.

Today, the site lives a shadowy existence. After several changes of ownership, there are plans for restoration, but currently the dilapidated sports field is mainly a site of vandalism – instead of sporting achievements, it is a display of garbage and graffiti.

In preparation for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich , the Olympiastadion (Am Riesenfeld) S-Bahn station was built in the north of the city. After the Games, the station was rarely used and was finally closed and abandoned in 1988 following a tragic accident.

The ruins of the former Munich Olympiastadion S-Bahn station at Riesenfeld with platforms and station building.

Source: imago images/Ralph Peters

Nature has long since reclaimed the ghost station. Trees and bushes grow along the platform, parts of the overgrown tracks are missing, and graffiti abounds in many places. The area is surrounded by a construction fence and is officially off-limits.

When the Olympic Village in Elstal, Brandenburg, was built for the 1936 Propaganda Games in Berlin, it was already clear that the buildings would be used by the Wehrmacht after the Games. Ironically named the "Village of Peace," the area housed 3,600 male athletes and their coaches during the Games.

The swimming pool in the Olympic Village in Elstal.

Source: imago images/Ralph Peters

After the Games, the facility served the Wehrmacht as an infantry training school, during World War II as a military hospital, and after the war ended, the Soviet Army occupied the site until 1992. After that, the Olympic Village was left to decay for a long time. However, in recent years, the site has become attractive to the real estate industry, and the "Dining Hall of Nations" has already been converted into 115 condominiums. The swimming pool, which has only been restored externally, remains a lost place.

Unlike the lost places mentioned above, Paris presented a concept for the future use of each new Olympic venue that was built, as well as for the Olympic Village.

The Porte de la Chapelle arena, built for the Olympic Games and home to badminton and rhythmic gymnastics, will subsequently be used as a multi-purpose hall and will provide a new home for the local basketball club. In addition to international sporting competitions, concerts and other events will also be held here.

The future use of the Centre Aquatique Olympique is to be diverse.

Source: imago images/MAXPPP

The new construction of the sustainable sports facility, the Centre Aquatique Olympique, which houses water polo, synchronized swimming, and diving, will also have new functions starting in July 2025. In addition to competitions, the multifunctional hall will be used for swimming lessons and recreational activities such as fitness, bouldering, and padel tennis.

And the Parisian plans do not, for the time being, raise concerns that the Olympic Village in Paris will become a lost place. The site, which housed 14,500 athletes and staff during the Olympic Games, will be converted into 2,800 new apartments, which will provide a home for 2,000 families and 800 students.

Looking for more inspiration? You can find tips for all the top travel destinations at reisereporter , and the best travel deals on our deals page .