Look at Tokyo 2020. Billions spent on venues that are now sitting empty while Japan’s taxpayers are stuck with the bill. That’s not even counting the carbon footprint of flying thousands of athletes and fans across the globe for a two-week party. We’re in a climate crisis, and the Olympics are a fossil-fuel-heavy relic. Sure, the spirit of competition is nice, but we can have global sports without the massive waste. Let’s be real—the corruption, the doping, the empty stadiums after the closing ceremony. It’s hard to justify all that for a few moments of glory. We need to move on to something more sustainable.

Take the 2016 Rio Games. They promised a green legacy, but the sailing venue is still polluted, and the athletes' village is basically abandoned. That’s not an anomaly—it’s the pattern. The IOC keeps selling this dream of unity and progress, but the reality is environmental damage and debt for host cities. I get that people love the competition, and yeah, the Olympic spirit is cool in theory. But we’re throwing money and resources at a model that hurts local communities and the planet. If we really cared about sports, we’d invest in local leagues and sustainable events instead of this traveling circus. Hard to argue that’s worth it anymore.

Honestly, can we just admit the Olympic flame is burning through our planet's future faster than it's inspiring anyone? Hardik, you haven't actually made a case yet — so let me ask: what exactly is worth saving here? The IOC still hasn't cleaned up the doping mess, and every host city ends up with white elephant venues. Tokyo's debt is still crippling them. The carbon footprint of a single Games could power a small country for a year. Sure, athletes train their whole lives for this, but we could create a decentralized global sports calendar that actually gives local communities lasting benefits instead of temporary hotels nobody needs. The unity argument falls flat when we're looking at abandoned stadiums and polluted waterways. I'm not anti-sport — I'm anti-waste. We need to evolve past this.