It's time to rethink the sports socialism of the Olympics

With the end of the Cold War, the Olympics are no longer a platform for the West and the Soviet bloc countries to showcase their rival systems. The games now are more about individual excellence and less about national loyalties.

All this means that Western boosters of the games can’t justify their spare-no-expense attitude in the name of “intangible benefits” such as national honor anymore. Unlike, say, emerging economies such as India and China, the issue for Western taxpayers is not whether their governments are capable of pulling off an elaborate event, but whether it’s worth it. Western citizens are far less tolerant of the excesses and the screw-ups and far more skeptical of the inflated claims about the benefits of the games.

This means that even if the London Olympics go off without a hitch, future games will have a hard time maintaining public support without major changes in their business model.