What are the advantages and disadvantages for hosting the

Olympic Games?

By Hannah Stone

Introduction

• In this Power Point I will be answering the following questions;

• How was Athens advantaged for hosting the 2004 Olympic Games?• How was Beijing advantaged for hosing the 2008 Olympic Games?

• How were the facilities and venues used in Athens?• Will there be more tourism in China because they have recently

hosted the Olympic Games?• How will people in Beijing receive more sporting opportunities

because they have hosted the Games?• What happens to all the facilities used for the Olympic Games?• How is the Olympics host country more successful in in the Games?

How Athens was advantaged for hosting the 2004 Olympic Games

• In the run-up to that memorable occasion, Athens enjoyed the construction of the famous event. The rush of spending so much money gave the city a brand new feeling. Athens made particularly huge steps in transportation, with a new airport with all new technology, a modern subway system, a commuter rail system, a metropolitan tramway and a beltway. Urban planning scholar Giorgios Tziralis says that all of these constructions have very low pollution levels compared to others.

Birds eye view of Athens Olympic Village

• The Greeks perceived hosting the 2004 Games as rightful recompense for being outbid in 1996 by Atlanta. However, they officially put in 11.2 billion Euros.

• The major problem was and still is the use of the costly infrastructure that Athens inherited. The organizing committee rejected the option of building temporary facilities that could be rapidly dismantled. Instead, it went the more expensive route of building state-of-the-art stadiums, such as the 50million euro weightlifting arena.

• Even though Athens spent so much money on their Olympics, it was very beneficial to them, and they have definitely been advantaged by hosting the 2004 Olympic Games.

How was Beijing advantaged for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games?

•By hosting the Games, Beijing and China will be further opened to the world. Its economic development and social progress will be accelerated. The whole world will get to know Beijing and China better, and it will further integrate Beijing and China into the world. The major importance will be China’s further interest in Olympic Sports and the strengthening of China’s contribution to international sport. The concept that has been proposed for Beijing as a host city of the 2008 Olympic Games may be summed up in these words: Harmony between man and nature; blend of sport and culture; essential application of rapidly developing information technologies.

Birds Nest Stadium - Beijing

How were the facilities and venues used in Athens?

• The buildings constructed in Athens for the Olympic Games four years ago are closed to the public and covered in graffiti, a warning to the future of London after the 2012 Olympic Games.

• Of the 22 venues in the city, 21 are in a state of disrepair and under guard to prevent vandalism.

• The hangover from the games was tremendous. Greece was left with a huge national budget debt. The constructions has proven to be far too extravagant for the city.

Athens Olympic Stadium

• Inside one of the buildings, puddles of water are dotted across the marble floor.

• The baseball stadium was briefly used for football matches, until the organizers realized that the shape of the baseball diamond resulted in all the television cameras standing at the corner flag.

• Now, still none of the facilities are open to public and hardly ever used.

Will there be more tourism in China because they have recently hosted the

Olympic Games?• The Beijing 2008 Olympic

Games will provide great opportunities for China's tourism industry, said Aris Spiliotopoulos during his visit in Beijing.

•Olympic-related tourism has become one of the key interests for host countries. As the birthplace of modern Olympics and host country of the last summer Olympic Games, Greece has benefited greatly in tourism from the international sporting event.

Tourists

• By hosting the Olympic Games, China will have an excellent opportunity to showcase its latest technology, economic development and young generations to the world like never before.

•In order to maximize opportunities from the Olympics, Beijing has to make a strategic plan in advance, especially on how to turn Olympic stadiums and gymnasiums into culture and tourism facilities.

Tourists

How does the Olympic Games inspire sports membership?

• In many sports, after the Olympic Games people of all ages are inspired to give new sports a try. People all over the world become more interested in and contributing more to sports. Therefore becoming healthier and maybe even potential Olympic athletes. Netball Team

How will people in Beijing receive more sporting opportunities because they have

hosted the Games?• They will have the birds nest stadium, the water cube

and all other facilities and buildings to practice and train in.

• Once Beijing knew that they were having the Olympics, they searched for children that could be potential Olympians and trained them up over the years to make China more successful in the 2008 Olympics, since they were the hosting country.

• Beijing has employed a lot of coaches to train the athletes.

• Beijing has the latest technology and knowledge about sports, athletes and training.

• The Chinese government has provided a lot more money than usual for sports.

What happens to all the facilities used for the Olympic Games?

• Most of the Olympic hosting countries use there facilities for future use. Such as, athletics, swimming lessons, and sports clubs. Some of the facilities are used for other events like world championships and commonwealth games.

Sporting event

How is the Olympics host country more successful in in the Games?

• Generally, a country’s athletes are very successful when they are hosting the Olympics themselves.

• This is because they put a lot of money to get state of the art technology and training equipment.

• The athletes are also familiar with the food, living conditions and facilitie.

• The host country gets to choose some new sports to be introduced to the Olympics that year.

• The support of their own country during the Olympics.

China in Olympics

Conclusion• From my research for this assignment, I can see that

the Olympic Games are more than just a sporting event.

• Hosting the Olympic Games has many advantages and disadvantages for the host country.

• With careful planning, organizing committees can ensure that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.