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Countries no longer rush to host Olympic Games

Atos International, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

For decades sports and public authorities kept repeating like a mantra or a prayer that hosting the Olympic Games would lead to a long term growth for the country selected by the Committee. And most comments highlighted the incredible good fortune to be on the list of pre selected cities. But the reality seems to be very different. Let us briefly recall that the IOC is the official governing body of the Olympics. Now the question is why such prestigious events -including Winter and Summer Games- have lost their luster. But the central issue is, why is the organizing committee having more and more trouble finding serious candidates ? And of course the key point is how to explain the disinterest of many public authorities in organizing Olympic Games. The main problem is that it is extremely difficult, given the considerable number of partners involved, to pass a credible budget and then stick to it. And here are two sobering examples. The first concerns London, the British Capital, in 2012: spendings close to £ 9 billion and overall revenues of £ 2.5 billion (Re. journal dunet.com). The second example is even more striking. It concerns Sochi in Russia. The failure of Sochi Olympics is glaring. In fact, the Winter Olympics that took place in 2014 are the most expensive in history. It appears that the true cost of these games was $ 50 billion (Re.Reuters). The corruption that plagued the works realized is at least partly responsible for this enormous mess. By way of comparison, let us highlight that the Winter Olympics that took place in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, had a cost of about $ 7 billion (Re.Radio Canada). But it should also be noted that all these figures are still disputed today! Finally, it is also interesting to note the names of the cities that refused to host the Olympics: Rome (Italy), Hamburg (Germany), Oslo (Norway), Bern (Switzerland), Innsbruck (Austria) and Denver (USA). The explanation of this delicate situation is quite easy to understand. The Olympics have become a luxury that very few countries around the world can afford.

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