Agreed.

Also, the author's sub-headline asks whether to blame the IOC then points how the olympics costing doesn't include incremental infrastructure projects -- which likely would've happened without the olympics, just not as fast, as is the case with most olympics[1].

From what I remember, Athens was one of the best executed, efficient olympics ever. Unfortunately, attendance was low as the timing of the Iraq War made travel undesirable.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Summer_Olympics#Costs

Totally agree with this. The Greek culture goes way back and perhaps the original Olympic games in 776 BC is a better starting point to understand the context. Greece should have never been allowed in Euro zone - it was forced in part through politics, part through accounting cheating and now is the aftermath.