The Green Behind the Gold: The costs and rewards of putting on the Olympic Games

In this special report, Scripps News speaks with athletes, experts and our correspondents worldwide to focus on the money behind the Olympic Games.

We pull back the curtain on how much cities pay to host the Games and the price for athletes to represent their country, investigate the bidding process that goes into hosting the games and explore the costs of building specialized competition venues and mass transit to handle a huge audience.

Economists explain the history of Olympic Games going over budget, We dig into what it costs for athletes to win, and how much they can win if they make it to the podium. And we hear from athletes themselves about working second jobs so they can chase their dreams of gold.

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