Achievements of Sustainability in Olympic Games 2012 - Research Paper Example

Achievements of sustainability in Olympic Games in London Introduction The next Olympic Games are to be held in London in and it would have immense impact on the economy of London. International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded London with the right to venue 2012 summer Olympic and Paralympics games. Since, then major speculations were made about the achievements that London and UK may achieve over the post Olympic period. The achievements might have a sustaining effect over the coming decade. According to various Economists, the post Olympic effects will result in betterment in infrastructure, health facility, tourist attractive spots, etc., which will have a sustaining effect on the socio-economic scenario of London and the surrounding regions. To a host city like London, which is already a well established city, the achievements from hosting the Olympic Games might give the economy a higher boost than the other not so well established cities who had earlier hosted the Olympic Games. There are already lots of speculations being made about the nature of benefits that London or UK might achieve owing to the hosting of Olympics. It is not always true that a city hosting Olympics had highly benefitted socially or economically after the games are over. In 1972 Munich Olympics and in 1976 Montreal Olympics made losses of £178 million and £692 million respectively, whereas in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and in 1992 Barcelona Olympics made profits of £215 million and £2 million respectively. There are lots of speculations about the economic performance of the organizers of Olympic Games that increased lately owing to the larger market for television rights and higher costs of the Games. Thus, to understand the exact achievements post Olympic, the economic evaluations of costs are to be justified. There are mainly three phases that are involved in the benefits to the hosting city, the pre-games period, the during-games period and the post-games period. We will focus our discussion on the post-games period, which is also called the legacy period of Olympics. In the Legacy period the city and the surrounding areas will enjoy the benefits of developed infrastructures and health facilities, which are the achievements for the city for hosting a global event like Olympics. There would be socio-economic progress in the region owing to the developments made in the infrastructure for the successful implementation of the Olympic and Paralympics games. There are also some pre-games and during-games positive effects, which will sustain in the legacy period like the increase in welfare and rise in the rate of employment. The total net GDP of UK will have a positive change of £1.9 billion resulting from the hosting of Olympic Games in London whereas, in future, the change in welfare attributable to the hosting of the games in the year 2012 is around £736 million. Owing to the hosting of Olympics in London, the city will benefit from infrastructural construction, transport infrastructure, international tourism, rise in employment, investments in construction sector, improvements in hotels and restaurants, etc. (Blake, 2005) Achievements from hosting Olympic Games in London The hosting of a global event like Olympics usually has lots of benefits for the hosting city and the country over the prolonged period after the games gets over. Usually the region where the Olympic Games happen gets developed both socially and economically owing to the impact of Olympics. The International Olympic Committee always helps the venue with lots of fund for the infrastructure building for the success of Olympic Games. The infrastructure build up is very essential for the successful implementation of the games. The development in infrastructure includes the developments in roadways, railways, airports and other mode of transports. This is done so that the players and the support staffs should not face any difficulties in reaching the venue on the scheduled time. The player’s securities are also related to the proper infrastructure of the place. After Commonwealth Games, which was hosted by Manchester, the north-western region of Great Britain became the heart of sports in the country. From the achievements point of view, one can say that the venues like Old Trafford after 2012 Olympics will generate lots of buzz in sports development in that region. After the Olympics in 2012, UK will again be the world leader in major events of sports and will highlight the prospects of different sports in the country. The economic flow had already started in the regions of UK responsible in hosting the Olympics in 2012. The development of sports can be considered as an achievement because it will result in improving performances in the future tournaments as well. (Manchester Evening Standard, 2007) There will also be developments in business sectors like catering and tourism, which will have the opportunity to prosper more in the future. In the lights of Olympic 2012 in London the economy will largely benefit with the development in these types of business sectors that are directly or sometimes indirectly related to the event. According to data, the Commonwealth Games in the year 2002 which was hosted by Manchester bought around £6 billion to the region and it according to predictions the Olympic 2012 might bring an approximated amount of £4.4 billion which will have an immense force on the economical development of that region. (Blake, 2005; Mendick, 2009) With the improvement and development in the infrastructure and the economy, there will also be some development in the health and medical facilities in the less developed sub urban regions that are located near London and have some venues. These regions will continue to enjoy the benefits after the Olympic Games gets over. The updated medical facilities will not only help the players in the Olympics but also the local people of those regions. These developments will remain effective after the Olympic Games are over and can be considered as one of the brightest achievements from hosting the event. The event like Olympic creates lots of business activities that are involved which sum up around thousands of contracts tendered in sectors like construction, catering, tourism, etc., and for these contracts the International Olympic Committee opts for local contractors. These provide immense opportunity of growth for the small contractors to expand their business and gain a global reputation for themselves, which is quite fruitful in the long run. The success of Olympics 2012 will project a commendable picture of UK to the world, which will result in more Foreign Direct Investments in the country. There are also few local companies who are directly related to the Olympics like Adidas whose sales figure will surely get a boost and that will have some positive effect on the economy of UK. The big companies are considering London Olympics as one of those events which happens only once in the lifetime and thus, they want to capitalize on whatever they can from the event and are trying very hard to get involved in the event. The participation of various local companies in the event will help the business sector to grow which will have a long term impact on the economy of UK. The venues where records may happen in Olympic 2012 will become attractive tourist’s spots for visitors coming from all over the world and will generate boost to the tourism industry of UK. There will be lots of additional benefits, which will be generated in London as well as its surroundings owing to the hosting of a global event like Olympics in the year 2012. There are lots of preparations going on to maximize and sustain the achievements that may result with the commencement of Olympics 2012. From an overall view point, the achievements that London and UK might get for hosting the Olympics are, the development and growth in economy, the infrastructural and constructional developments, development in health and medical facilities, improvement in the industrial and business sectors and increase in Foreign Direct Investments in the country. (The independent London Olympic Site, n.d; Kelso, 2009) Sydney Olympics 2000 In the modern times, the Olympic Games that were held in Sydney, Australia in the year 2000 can be considered as the most successful Olympic event. The performance of Australia had increased at an astonishing rate, the count of medals won by Australia rose from 41 to 58. The image of the nation is very important in hosting an event like Olympics and Sydney had succeeded in projecting a well-balanced image in front of the rest of the world. There is no doubt about the fact that the success of Sydney Olympics not only enhanced the image of the city but it also hugely enhanced the image of Australia in front of the world. There were lots of economical development happened after the successful staging of Olympics in Sydney and the other venues in Australia. According to John Coates, the Olympic chief the financial legacy and the vast facilities of Sydney Olympics will surely help the Australian players in the recent Olympics to sustain the high level of performance. It was a fact that the Sydney Olympics had provided the ideal launching pad for the success in various sports events in future. It was previously believed that the hangover of Olympics had disappointing effects on the host countries and Australian Olympic Committee was determined to achieve the break through and sustain the momentum of the growth in facilities in the post period of Sydney Olympic. The legacy of the performance of Sydney Olympics was continued in the Athens Olympics 2004 where Australia won 48 medals with the record of 17 gold and ended up in the fourth place. (Legacy of Sydney Olympics continues on, 2005) According to sources, the financial legacy that Australia sustained after Sydney Olympics enabled them to provide better facilities to their athletes and to maintain the sports culture in the region. The Sydney Olympic helped them to support the sports culture by the solid back up of sponsors and they gained so much financial stability that they were able to afford 500 athletes to participate in the Beijing Olympics, which held in the year 2008. The main achievement for Australian sports after the Sydney Olympics is that they became independent of the Governmental support and the financial support of the sponsors helped them to provide better preparation for the future events. The Sydney Olympic Park was undoubtedly the greatest legacy of the Sydney Olympic in 2000. The Park provides world-class facilities of various sports and helps to nurture the upcoming future athletes. The Sydney Olympic also helped in the infrastructural development of the stadiums, which later used as venue for lots of international sporting events. The economical development of Australia also became sound after the Sydney Olympic 2000. The infrastructural developments also resulted in the regional developments of Australia, which were related to the venues of Sydney Olympics 2000. The development in the transport system also helped in the socio economic development of the regions. The achievements of Sydney Olympic were surely inspirational to the countries who later hosted the event or who will host the event in the future. In case of London Olympics, the authorities can take inspiration from Australia in order to successfully stage an event like, Olympic and how to sustain the achievements that will result after the commencement of the Olympic. In contrast to Sydney Olympics, the Olympic which is going to be held in the year 2012 in London might have more sustained effect as the development process had already started in UK with the hosting of Commonwealth Games in Manchester in the year 2002. The Commonwealth Games had already initiated the development of sports infrastructure in UK and after the staging of Olympics in the country; the infrastructural development will reach its ultimate level. The authority should not neglect the future scopes and prospects that an event like Olympic provides to the country, the sustainability of the achievements are in the hands of the authorities who will be responsible for the sustainability of the progressive period. The Australian Olympic Committee had taken similar steps to sustain the progressive process after the commencement of Sydney Olympics and succeeded in achieving Sydney Olympic Park, which provides the necessary supportive structure for the development of sports in Australia. (Enhanced Remediation Strategy,n.d) Beijing Olympics 2008 The 29th Summer Olympic Games, which was held at Beijing, China inaugurated on the 8th of August. From the point of commencement of the Games the competition among the athletes in 28 different sports started to roar high. The previous discussion had already established the fact that the city who hosts the Olympics are quite clear about the legacy effect that they might achieve after the successful staging of the Games. The sports tourism generally gets encouragement with the hosting of such events. After the successful completion of Beijing Olympics the image of China became very bright in front of the whole world, as they were able to show that the country is capable of hosting all sorts of sport events from football competition to aquatics. After the completion of Olympics the cauldron is put out, the visitors and players returned home but the infrastructure that was built for the staging of the Games remained in the host country, and the Olympic city suddenly becomes an attractive place for staging of other sports and cultural events. From the officials of Beijing organizing committee it was known that there are some initial achievements, which Beijing drew, after the completion of the Games, from the different venues used in the Olympics. The Olympic Green became a very attractive tourists spot and data reveals that it attracted tourists more than the Forbidden City after the Games got over. The various venues like Chaoyang Park Stadium where beach volleyball event was organized became the Sun Beach Theme Park for the family outings. The families and children enjoy the legacy of the spot and get the opportunity to play on the same land where a few times back international players had played. The infrastructure of the place also increased and the global image became much more attractive for the visitors who used to come from different parts of the world previously only to visit the cultural heritage of the country. After the success of Olympic in the country China became more open for organizing and implementing various types of sports events and the organizers of different tournaments also opting for the venues in China. The economical development of china also got some boost after the commencement of Beijing Olympics in the country and the infrastructural developments happened as the result of hosting the Olympics. There are also few ‘satellite’ venues like the Qingdao and Hong Kong, who were responsible for the hosting of preliminary rounds of sports like football, who will enjoy the legacy effect of the Beijing Olympics although they were not very closely located to Beijing. (Zhiping, 2008; Hichson, 2009) In contrast with the Beijing Olympics, the coming Olympic which is going to be hosted by London in 2012, the legacy effect will me quite different. In London the sports tournaments are already attractive to the locals and the organizing committees so there is not much help that can be extracted from the legacy effect of Olympic but the development in the sports infrastructure will surely grow. There is lots of funding being done by the Olympic committees to the hosting cities for the infrastructural developments of the region where the games going to be played and the cities benefit from those constructional frameworks in organizing the future sports events. The London Olympic Committee is also capitalizing on those benefits, which the country might enjoy in the future for the betterment of the image of the nation. (Montlake, August 2009) Conclusion There are lots of speculations and analysis being made on the effects and impact of London Olympic 2012 by various researchers and economists. The overall GDP position is ought to grow to about £ 1936 million over the period of 2005-2016. There are lots of expectations from the London Olympics towards the common mass in Britain. The employment level is subject to grow after the commencement of the Olympics in London in the year 2012. The speculation is that there might be around 8164 full-time equivalent jobs created for the peoples of UK. In 2012, the impacts are £1067 million GDP and 3261 full time equivalent jobs and after 2012 till 2016, the GDP might be £622 million and another additional full time equivalent job of around 1948. There are also some indirect benefits that cannot be predicted at present, analyzing the recent scenario like the impact of Foreign Direct Investments on UK owing to the legacy effect of London Olympic 2012. The legacy effect is sure to have positive impact on the economy of London, which is at present combating with the present financial crisis. The Authorities are sure to take the boosting advantage of the legacy effect and will try to sustain the flow of development at the same rate for the stability of the economy. The job opportunity will help the peoples of UK to battle the recession oriented effects that had hard and negative impact on the disposable income of them. The achievements might be comprised of the record scoring venues, which will attract the tourists due to the legacy of those places owing to games played in the London Olympics like in case of Beijing. The revenues will sure to grow from UK’s point of view if the event raises the image of the country in the global platform. The sustenance of the achievements from hosting an event like Olympic is surely a matter of concern for the Governing bodies of London and UK and they have already taken initiatives to prolong the process of growth. (Blake, 2005) Reference: 1. Blake.A, (May 2005), The Economic impact of the London 2012 Olympics. Available At: http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache%3AfrhICqbjfWMJ%3Awww.nottingham.ac.uk%2Fttri%2Fpdf%2F2005_5.pdf+impact+of+2012+olympics+on+economy+of+london&hl=en&gl=in (accessed on January 12, 2010) 2. The independent London Olympic Site, (n.d), London Olympics 2012. Available At: http://www.londonolympics2012.com/ (accessed on January 12, 2010) 3. Kelso. P, (October 2009), London 2012 Olympics will provide economy with £7 bn boost, says Lord Coe, Telegraph.co.uk. Available At: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/london2012/6390540/London-2012-Olympics-will-provide-economy-with-7bn-boost-says-Lord-Coe.html (accessed on January 12, 2010) 4. Will the 2012 Olympics be good for the North West economy? (November 2007), Business. Manchester Evening Standard. Available At: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/1025005_will_the_2012_olympics_be_good_for_the_north_west_economy (accessed on January 12, 2010) 5. 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Available At: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2009/0809/p06s10-woap.html (accessed on January 12, 2010) 10. Enhanced Remediation Strategy,(n.d), Education and Learning, Sydney Olympic Park. Available At: http://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/education_and_learning/history/site_remediation/enhanced_remediation_strategy (accessed on January 12, 2010) Read More