Every four years, a small army of laborers works for months, if not years, to construct the many venues needed for the Olympic Games.

A site is selected, blueprints are drawn up, money is allocated, and then, long before the teams of

international competitors ever show up, construction workers descend, building inspiring

sites where Olympic glory will be won.

When the games are over, those same newly constructed venues are often torn down, or left to sit abandoned.

But not always.

Some find a second purpose.

For instance, for the 2008 Summer Olympics hosted in Beijing, the Chinese built this visually

astounding venue nicknamed the Water Cube.

The site hosted many aquatic events like swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming.

Now, it's a popular water park for the people of China.

As for the stadium for ice skating and ice hockey built for the 1928 and

1948 Winter Olympics in Saoam Mouinz, Switzerland, well, it eventually became a

private residence, owned by one man, Rolf Sachs.

And the same site that hosted the Olympic opening ceremony, he residents owned by one man, Rolf Sachs.

And the same site that hosted the Olympic opening ceremony, he later turned into a private garden.

The United States has hosted the Olympics more than any other country.

For the summer games, there was the 1904 St. Louis Games and the 1932 Los Angeles games,

and again in Los Angeles in 1984, and finally in Atlanta in 1996.

For the winter games, Lake Tahoe in 1960, Salt Lake City in 2002,

and one sleepy town hosted it twice,

a small town in upstate New York called Lake Placid in 1932 and 1980.

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