How about just don't watch the Olympics at all? The IOC is an awful, awful organization.
Out of curiosity, why the hate?
The IOC is deeply corrupt, and the olympics have long ceased to be about sports. They are about selling officially branded merchandise from official sponsors and simultaneously squashing local competition with ridiculous, speciallly drafted laws, which cricitically impacts the local economy even after the games are long over. It's akin to a swarm of locusts, really.
Also, the branding police of the IOC puts the MAFIAA to shame - you might have heard about their petty attempts at censorship ("you may not link to our sites if you report negatively about us!!1!1" or banning anyone from using word combinations such as "London 2012" and "Summer Games" - which the internet of course spitefully ignores).
Perhaps on the local level this is all true. But (anecdotally, at the very least) for every viewer I know, it's about national competition between incredible athletes. The excitement about seeing a world record broken, the upsets when an up and coming young fencer takes gold, and the warm feeling I get when my flag is raised and the anthem is played.
All of your reasons are why it sucks for the host city. That's a problem that can be solved without sacrificing the best athletic competition in the world.
That's like asking people in China about how the government treats dissidents, because hey, they watch TV. Surely that will be on TV, yes?
And yes, the comparison with China is apt. The IOC is a bunch of corrupt, corporate prostitutes who will do anything for their corporate overlords. London is in a state of military lockdown for the duration of the games - heard about the missile pods on civilian houses, for example?
Besides, about those "incredible athletes" - the olympic games were never about that, either. It's supposed to be a friendly competition between amateurs. Professional atheletes have their world championships/cups/leagues/whatever, and should have never been admitted to the games. They have absolutely no business being there.
My point still stands: the very absolutely and definitely last thing the olympic games are about is sports. It's about mind-numbing commercialisation, corporate greed and senseless destruction of local economies, all neatly hidden behind entertainment for the masses - panem et circenses!
>All of your reasons are why it sucks for the host city.
Yes, and that's more than enough reason to boycott the games, and loudly demand their abolition, instead of hiding behind "it doesn't concern me" and mindless patriotism. It concerns millions of people. Show some compassion. We'll lose nothing by abolishing the games that hasn't already disappeared long ago.
No, that's reason to loudly demand their reform.
Not about sports? That's beyond cynical.