The inherent unfairness of the Olympics

The Olympics can hardly fail to be the greatest show on Earth. For the last two weeks, the world has been transfixed by sports which attract little interest at any other time. From beach volleyball to BMX bike racing to obscure forms of wrestling – all, briefly, seem to be vitally important, such is the prestige of winning a gold medal.

Yet at the same time there is something rotten about the modern Games. Their pretension to moral virtue is too often at odds with reality. They impose such a burden on their host cities that only a few countries in the world are capable of staging them.

The 2024 and 2028 Games were apportioned between the only two cities, Paris and Los Angeles, left standing after others, including Boston, Budapest and Rome, withdrew their bids. For a sporting event which claims to be bringing the world together, it ought to be an embarrassment that we are unlikely to see the Games hosted in a developing country again, after Rio de Janeiro struggled to cope in 2016.