The Dark Side of the London Olympics (Part 1/4)

VICE takes an in-depth look at the British public's reaction to The Games in London and the negative impact it's having on certain people's lives.
One thing that's great about the Olympics is all the fabulous regeneration in East London. We went to meet all the lucky locals, such as the residents of the Carpenter's Estate, who have been evicted from their homes to make way for the Games. Some of them even got moved to Stoke! Lucky them. Marginally more hyped about the whole thing are the competitors in the Boris Johnson themed "wiff-waff" tournament (that's ping-pong to you, me, and everyone besides Boris).
Watch the rest here
Part 1: bit.ly/Dark-Side-Olympics-1
Part 2: bit.ly/Dark-Side-Olympics-2
Part 3: bit.ly/Dark-Side-Olympics-3
Part 4: bit.ly/Dark-Side-Olympics-4
Watch the VICE Guide to the Olympics on VICE.com
Check out our full video catalog: / vice
Videos, daily editorial and more: vice.com
Like VICE on Facebook: vice
Follow VICE on Twitter: / vice
Read our tumblr: / vicemag

[@ZGJDJD]

First of all I'm born and lived in Beijing. And this is exactly what happened back in 2008 Beijing olympics. This kind of city "face lift" are always considered and executed to show the world a positive image. It's like fixing your hair,washing your face before a date. It's totally understandable for these civilians to protest against it, and it's very unfortunate.

[@JoshWaller]

They’re complaining about how the area has a lot of noise, I’m sure their flats are worth a lot lot more now because of the regeneration not to mention the incredible views they get from their balconies. I’d love to live in one of the flats overlooking the Olympic park.

[@TreeMovies]

people don't tend to own council flats

[@JoshWaller]

@@TreeMovies Many do, especially in East. Thatcher enabled many of the families to purchase their properties.

[@cmdusty01]

been waiting for this all week :D

[@tobiaz1]

wee, been waiting for these :)

[@TBoneDM]

The KZbin advertisement on my end prior to this video was for the Olympics itself. Brilliant.

[@duhhxxxiloveyou]

amazing work!!!!!!!!

[@lolololol01_uw0t]

I completely agree with this. Being British I was thinking it would be quite hard to follow for a foreigner but for the people that understood it, it was fantastic (imo)

[@VanbrabantP]

I WANT PART 2 RIGHT NOW !!!!!

[@RauCompany]

Thank you - For quite possibly THE BEST PROGRAMMING on THE INTERNET! Honestly, your program channel inspires me. 

[@MrBurkdawg]

Thanks for dropping knowledge

[@constructivist6]

Both are awesome. That's what Vice is all about!

[@JoeyXSmith]

To be honest, this stuff happens where ever the Olympics is being held. Its happening in Rio now. After the Olympics is over, most of those places become empty. Rarely being used and ends up just being a eye sore to the locals.

[@syvallone2146]

London is the only place in history that actually utilized their stadium though. Sochi, Rio, Montreal, Athens, and Beijing were disastrous and I feel so bad for their economies.' Montreal said it took the tax payers 30 years to pay off the stadium and I think it's been abandoned since the 70s

[@jiat_spacejams]

I love vice. It would be awesome to work with vice.

[@TheSoundDepo]

The opening ceremony was pretty special

[@namuhemos]

Where is part two? It would be nice to see the rest of these before the Olympics go on any further ya?!

[@kiiririnkinpah13]

Can't watch the rest on my phone. Greeeeat made me turn on my pc for this

[@freakman420]

It seems everyone is asking about part 2... The video said part 2-4 will be here on Monday.

[@bboygmoney]

god damn i love me some VICE!!

[@rononel2921]

In Britain you are allowed to throw away a certain amount of 'nuclear' waste without having to register it under the hazardous materials act (we're talking mere grams of the stuff here). But the reactor they were talking about was buried many years ago when the controls for this sort of material were very different, the idea being that we weren't going to dig it up and build an Olympic park on top of it..........

[@elstabstab]

Lol, I love you how can tell he's proud of that comment. Sitting back in his chair grinning, thinking "owned".

[@hooahguy14]

I think Atlanta beat this pattern. I lived there for 18 years after the Olympics and we seemed to be doing fine. Probably because we actually still use most the stadiums we had to build for the Olympics after they ended. I think.

[@kidkurls]

This is a really good, and necessary, documentary. The perfect antidote to the endless pro-olympic bilge pumped out of the TV and radio that I spend most of my day trying to avoid.

[@olusiomowunmi8269]

Olympics is one of the greatest ever on earth concerning games and sports. No matter what happens in any of this olympic events or host cities, it's work of uniting, friending and promoting souls on earth. SO LET US ALL GROW IN THE SPIRIT OF THE OLYMPICS

[@12gaugeAngel]

My thumb went so far up, it just took out a falcon.

[@lukemilton9587]

I LOVE VICE!!! I live in NYC and I've seen Shane Smith here in NYC!!! I'm a VICE fanatic!!!!

[@roseybeesley4110]

Luke Milton so sad

[@ShredSurfSkateRepeat]

I was a 'victim' of the 2010 winter olympics in whistler BC. Lived there happily for awhile and supported myself working amongst other 'ski bums' and lots of euro's and auzzies having a gap year paid for by their parents, no resentment, however, the olympics come and for 3 months I can't drive to work anymore because of checkpoints and our rent triples, hard for someone paying $450 to have to pay $1300. Lived in houses made for 4 packed with 15 people olympics fucked some of us locals right up

[@famousgirl9x9]

Thanks for clearing that up yo.

[@bafl2BeRi]

loven it Vice.

[@bennihana123]

In '96 Atlanta was transformed from the ghetto where you go to get robbed or stabbed to a relatively world class city. It really turned the city around, but I'm sure London is completely different animal.

[@neilunknown]

Living a little under 60 miles from London, it is a city that inspires me - I find it fascinating, beguiling, frustrating, frightening and charming at a turn. There are areas and corners of it that I know initmately and others that remain almost foreign. The 'London Olympics' remain an anathema to me however simply because of their very nature....In an age of such supposed 'eqaulity' why should we be impressed by one persons ability to run/jump/swim faster than another?

[@YungAlCreationz]

Glad we're on your mind :)

[@jimjamjolly]

is it ironic that the advert for this video was the olympic soundtrack?

[@freedomwv]

Sad to see what has happened to east London. That place has a lot of history and culture.

[@PurpleMintSam]

I love Freakonomics! Great podcast.

[@AntiSecure]

I hate sports. I never watch the Olympics and probably never will. But I hope it never stops. There's so much history in it, I don't think it should ever stop. As was said, it's the only world event that brings the world together... We need more of that. Much more.

[@VickyBorean]

I've been waiting for both all week to be frank.

[@inquistire]

is part 2/4 up?

[@MrFlav18]

why only put up part 1 and not the rest?????

[@tazdevil742]

Central Line is hell now .... I live in Leytonstone, so I have to go via Stratford everyday. I feel like tuna in a tin.

[@rononel2921]

Unfortunately the regulation that appears in Manhattan isn't being applied here. There have been a couple of documentaries in the British media (see dispatches on channel 4) that have interviewed people who's contracts are not being renewed or can only be renewed if you pay anywhere up to £1000 per week because they know they can get this from Olympic visitors. Now I know that a renewed contract doesn't quite fall under rent control but the landlords are throwing people out to make a quick buck.

[@SuperDrummerful]

What song is playing at end?? its beautiful.

[@bshaq1512]

Disasters have happened at the last Winter Olympics, Beijing, and Atlanta. I wouldn't be surprised if something did happen.

[@saf_nfk]

To be continued is a big pita, especially when it's interesting enough to watch rest...

[@Kane615]

That's like saying the 1976 Olympics weren't a failure because they still happened, even thought the roof still was incomplete.

[@7563able]

As someone who lives in newham I can safely say nothing has changed every

[@KidsWithGuns1992]

Sorry, I got the number wrong. It was 29 million for the ceremony alone, but that is still a huge amount of money.

[@GENERALJOHNNYREBEL]

Decaying Industrial Grunge is a band i used to listen too......

[@Jamontoast03]

The lady who said I'm really excited in the beginning teached me to swim lol yolo

[@CrimpyStryder5958]

The games gave memories that will be cherished in nations across the globe. Kirani james winning grenada's first ever gold medal was a huge occasion for the country, one that will have lifted them, or mo farah, doing the same for the people in somalia, even though he is now british. The olympics may not have helped people in a physical sense, but it will have lifted them, brought some happiness around. If all we spent our money on was research and technology, the world would be a glummer place.

[@tontonremi]

vice is zee reference all of vice's videos r but just great

[@luckystar5564]

1 part for each day?

[@Infinitexz]

I dont even watch the Olympics...but this was very interesting

[@sporeguy99]

For a short time, remember after the olympics are done you have to pay a couple million dollars a year for upkeep for that giant stadium collecting dust.

[@artman4444]

at 1:49, Where's Waldo? right there!!

[@Thimmet]

I can't find one word to fully describe VICE.. they are just fucking brilliant.

[@NotBull068]

Greenway eh? It's weird how you hear some random thing during the day, and then you hear it again in a completely unrelated way.

[@fleewithin]

Why not just upload it all in one part? :S

[@13KILLTOLIVE13]

1:46 I found Waldo!

[@lethfinch]

1:46 I've just found waldo at the Rome Olympics.

[@RZAwrecktor]

"...A really really shit opening ceremony, thats my prediction"

[@MyHipHopTunes]

oh my bad, thanks!

[@ohfouroneone]

How is there radioactive waste just randomly in the middle of a populated city? That stuff should be either locked away in a secret location or in space.

[@rononel2921]

I came here through SourceFed as well ; )

[@mehow1827]

where is part 2 3 and 4 ?

[@Thimmet]

The whole thing is on vice.com just like it says in the description..

[@Simoonwls]

11:02 We're doing up East London, oh it's been a very PORN borough! hahaha

[@lilkujo]

wtf? A Westfield mall?????? Wow I live in L.A and we have one of those? Damn commercialization sure can travel... didn't know it was Aussie either

[@qazo]

Anybody knows what's the music @ 3:02 ? song name would be great.

[@mohossain123]

WHERE IS PART 2?!?!?!?!?

[@Slave2Metal1]

I live North of Chicago. Chicago put in a bid for the olympic games in 2020 i believe. You have to realize when you are hosting an event like this it has a negative effect on the public. Streets are closed so it's harder to get to work. Lots of tourism raises crime because all big cities have areas that are slums. It also costs alot of money to host. Chicago spent a few million dollars just to bid on the olympics and lost to rio de janero and Illinois is broke completely out of money.

[@starkiller23610]

You should of done this for the FIFA world cup in south Africa.. it made put my country into such dept

[@Achecorn]

The old guy with the beanie is awesome.

[@FPSgamerChihakuryu]

ur annotation for part is is a subscription annotation and doesnt really go to part 2....

[@loloioi]

same thing happened to the vancouver 2010 winter olympics... >_>

[@Larsi9314]

2014 world cup in brazil :O that shit gana be cray.

[@JackMcMahonHD]

Hurp: Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and gymnophiona) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, amphisbaenids, turtles, terrapins, tortoises, crocodilians, and the tuataras). Batrachology is a further subdiscipline of herpetology concerned with the study of amphibians alone.

[@micfiend409]

1:46 - I just found Waldo!

[@poorandimmature]

where are the other parts??

[@CrimeanTatarBoy]

thank you

[@Axlyss]

Take in mind i live in Canada, and never heard it called football i thank im right. If i was talking about Europe or south America i would have called it football but as you know football means something different in canada and usa.

[@haboob308]

Don't rely on the council for you home and they can't tell you to move!

[@MyHipHopTunes]

Part 2?

[@ZoMgNoObHaTeR]

I hear Bejing had to stop production completely just to get the smog to clear before the olympics. This is nothing compared to that.

[@rob098890]

If I had an olympic ticket I'd give it to that old man.

[@timd456]

somebody should get that man a ticket for the games

[@lloyddrake5557]

Dolores is gonna need two subsidized tickets.

[@geo123123]

I was wondering about that too...

[@d3Ij8jkK7H3Dl9jNhsJF]

I certainly did not appreciate having shells and surface to air misses on top of my house. Well, it's over now, and fortunately nothing bad happened. The paralympics was actually better.

[@jamieisjabba]

all i'll say is most people in scotland never watched that Olympic pish lol

[@gamerkid1177]

I like the old guys hat. I want one.

[@Shiby102]

This Reminds me as Eminent domain

[@zvagabondz]

That old man has a SWAGGED out beanie!

[@netsildnaputuhs]

This bill...includes railways and subways which provide transportation of goods and humans in a far more economically safe way. So...yeah

[@tobigforyou]

BTW here is a interview with a homeless man in London named Mark, he talks about how the city is relocating homeless people: /watch?v=yE37cY7qRZo&feature=plcp He talks about other stuff as well, but the conversation eventually gravitates towards the Olympics. Really interesting video as well.

[@Oldreprobate]

so sorry governor, sir.

[@benedictcase4290]

there is a nice park there now

[@illseed254]

How's the english classes in Finland?

[@ultrasions]

Just wanted to say, your comment restored a little bit of my faith in humanity, "cheers" :P

[@phoenix2349]

I'm under the impression that the people who were evicted were in benefit houses that they didn't own in the first place. Getting a free very very high value and expensive house in a area that richer paying families want to move into means that Its reasonable to expect to be moved to a cheaper town or area. Would you want benefit scroungers taking a house from a family willing to pay for it?

[@KidsWithGuns1992]

Sorry I got the number mixed up with a space program I read about that day, it was 27 million pounds. Dunno why I wrote that down, obviously couldn't of been fourteen billion. But nonetheless - 27 million for an opening ceremony is a balls load of money, that seems excessive.