Halt the Olympics to save the planet, pleads a sports historian

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the games’ governing body, has long since made its peace with professionalism and women’s sport, but it has struggled to find new messages that it can credibly broadcast. Such messages are no mere sideshow; they are supposed to be central to the modern Olympics. For in the absence of such social purpose or moral mission, what are the games but a very expensive, highly commercialised made-for-television spectacle?