What the Olympics can do for us

By Claire Foy-Smith
BBC News Online

The UK's bid to host the 2012 Olympics has made the shortlist. But why go to the trouble and expense of readying London for the task - and what lessons can be learned from past Games?

Bring the world's fittest, fastest and strongest humans together in one city for two weeks, and it can create one hell of a buzz. During the last Olympics in 2000, Sydney came alive, fuelled by the energy of 199 nations' athletes and supporters.

The city filled with people everywhere, from everywhere, all bursting with pride and excitement as they urged their national heroes go for gold.

The home crowd gave their swimmers a rapturous celebration; and the Brits went wild for five-time medallist Steve Redgrave in the rowing. Nor were lower-profile sports ignored - South Korean fans in matching white outfits raised the roof at the tae kwon do tournament.

This city of 4m people was transformed by so many celebrating nationalities, an atmosphere that spilled onto the streets, cafes, bars, and businesses.

"This whole mood enveloped the country where we thought we were the best people on God's earth," says Trudy Harris, of The Australian newspaper.

"The city stopped and nothing else mattered. Corporations wound down their businesses and got their staff to take holiday. Everyone was very friendly to everyone else - we're known for it, but we're not really that friendly ordinarily."

Come one, come all

The Games brought an estimated 1.6m visitors to Sydney, and showed off Australia's biggest city in the best possible light - good weather, good hosts, good times.

British fans bask in reflected glory

But like host cities before it, today its appeal as a tourist magnet has less to do with its status as a former host city than Australia's long-term popularity as a hot destination.

Just as Athens - and indeed London - is experiencing now, there were predictions of chaos and scepticism that Sydney would never manage to rise to the challenge. It all came to naught, and the event was widely hailed as "the best Games ever".

Is this a feat London could repeat? Britons would appear to think so. A poll commissioned by the bid company shows four-fifths of Britons want to host the 2012 games (compared with 67% public support in the International Olympic Committee's own survey). And research by the British Olympic Association suggests support is as strong in Scotland as it is in England.

Expensive party

But is being a host nation worth the expense?

Yes, employment will get a boost, bringing an estimated 9,000 jobs to a deprived part of the city.

LONDON 2012 COST ESTIMATE £3.6bn in total, which includes: £2.375bn public funds Up to £1.5bn from the lottery Up to £625m from a London tax Up to £250m from London Development Agency

But it will cost billons not only to build the necessary facilities, but to bring London's creaking transport infrastructure up to scratch. There have been rumblings that such a wedge of cash would be better spent on British sport at all levels.

And although the bid team have made a "no white elephants" pledge, and instead try to follow Manchester's success in using its Commonwealth venues, past experience suggests this may be hard to avoid.

Numerous past studies have found that there is no long-term economic benefits to hosting a big sporting event. Economist Stefan Szymanski, of Imperial College, London, has said that big stadiums typically cost more than £225m, but are rarely needed again.

Montreal hosted the Olympics in 1976 - and the city's taxpayers will not clear the debt on its stadium until 2008. Before the event, its then mayor Jean Drapeau predicted that "the Games could no more have a deficit than a man could have a baby".

In Sydney, the Olympic venues have been dubbed "Jurassic Park" by critics. These are managed full-time, but bookings have been few and far between since 2000.

Sydney lit up during the games

Despite the cost and carping, there are benefits. Sydney-siders revel in rumours that the Games could return, and the experience no doubt proved helpful in planning Australia's next big sporting event, the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

And hosting a successful Games can be a fillip for a nation's psyche. After the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, the Spanish blossomed in confidence that there was more to their country than sunshine holidays and a bad economy.

Small wonder then that there is never a shortage of candidates vying to play host to sport's elite.