I agree, but at least running is a tradional Olympic sport, unlike half of the ridiculous events that I'm seeing being held as I flick through the channels upon my TV!!

Couldn't agree more with you, & I'm generally a sports fan, but not at the expense of taxpayer-funded, under-attended sporting events that could better assist their citizens in so many other ways.

Absolutely they are a waste of money, especially when countries that are already financially crippled & with plenty of impoverished citizens blow billions upon billions of dollars (e.g. Greece & Brazil) & countries like England could have better spent the estimated £24 billion that was spent upon the previous Olympics in London...mind you, it's typical of England/Great Britain to only focus their resources upon London - no wonder so many Scots want out of the United Kingdom!!

And while I'm currently flicking from screen to screen (of the 4 available to watch here in Australia), I'm seeing one half-empty stadium after another at these games in Rio, especially at sports that are not even traditional Olympic sports - e.g. Rugby 7's, canoeing, tennis... And ever since I was a kid in the early 80s - when the Olympics were supposedly for amateur athletes - things have changed so much when one considers the 'value' of the athletes in basketball (especially the US team), road cycling (the top pro' cyclists such as Froome, Porte, Nibali, Valverde, etc), tennis (Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, etc) & a number of other 100% professional sports...just like most sports in general, money has ruined things.

And finally, I must laugh when people try to justify the cost of holding such an event in order to promote tourism - if they can't fill stadiums while the Olympics are being held, then how in God's name will they flock to the cities afterward, simply because of the Olympics?! Did they honestly not know that such cities as Sydney, London & Rio existed BEFORE they held the Olympics?!!