The Olympic Games - Case Study Example

A host country and city for 2018 Youth Olympic Games The Olympic Games is a series of fundamental international events that feature winter and summer sports. This series of games takes place in selected countries arenas in every four years. The winter and summer games take turns in their occurrence within each season. The city of Athens in Greece was the first to hold a modern Olympics in 1896. Competitive playing in the Olympics by various individual is a way of representation of where ones origin. The choice of where a season’s Olympic Games should occur is selected through a bidding process. This is where various countries that have the capacity and fulfill the requirements of the Olympics place bids and the best fitting selection gets the chance to host the games (Benning, 2011:15). With time, every session of the Olympic Games grows bigger and better in incorporating equity and emerging issues within the globe. This has led to incorporation of factors such as people with disabilities and the holding of the youth Olympic Games for the teenage athletes of the world. As of the year 2010, these youth games have helped to develop young athletes for the Olympic Games. These games are shorter than the Olympic Games, and athletes of ages between 14 and 18 year get to participate (Hartman, 2001:13). There are various countries capable of holding these Olympic Games in relation to the availability of stadium capacity, among other requirements. Some of these countries stadiums include; Thomas Robinsons Stadium in the Bahamas, Bermuda National Stadium in Bermuda, Vasil Levski National Stadium in Bulgaria, Phnom Penm National Olympic Stadium in Cambodia, Beijing National Stadium in the People's Republic of China, Stade des Martyrs in DRC Congo, Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in Costa Rica, Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa in Ecuador, Cairo International Stadium in Egypt, and Salt Lake Stadium and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, both in India. The above named countries’ stadiums have the capacity to host such youth Olympics games. These stadiums can hold a capacity of 10,000 or more people as required for the opening and closing youth Olympics ceremonies, and can also accommodate for aquatic facilities 2,500- seat capacity. This is to say that they fulfill the financial requirement of being able to cater for financing the games; 30 million dollars for summer, and 15-20 million dollars for the winter games. They also have the economic capabilities to cater for such Olympic populations requirements; the athletes and guests. This includes the availability of media centers, a village for athletes and their coaches, and an amphitheater facility where classes and workshops can be held. In addition, these cities have well versed telecommunication systems and can match the need for transporting the coaches and athletes via shuttle buses to and fro the stadium and village for the summer editions. A country’s risk analysis is a process that intends to investigate the probable imbalances in the economy and environment that increases the risk of inability to attain the expected returns in a cross border investment. This means that the investment involved in locating the youth Olympics in a certain country will have the desired and expected outcomes. This involves a measure of the general conditions of the country such as political stability, exchange rates, transfer risks, economy risks and location or neighborhood risks, among others. In line with this, the above selected 10 countries all have positive probabilities when it comes to the Olympics games risk analysis. First of all, all the selected ten countries have coverage for the dollar exchange and the exchange rates with the dollar are mostly favorable on both sides. This is to say that interchange of currency is possible without limiting any side. They are also countries that have active, central government systems that act together in holding the political environment within the country. As such, they are fairly politically stable with an exception to maybe only during election periods. Being politically stable strengthens security of operation of the Olympic Games and interrelations between the different governments. In addition, some of countries such as China are in a developed state while others like DRC Congo are developing countries. This means that they have strong economies with improving economic conditions that are favorable for the development of such games. It is worth noting that these stadiums are in the major cities for these countries where the economy is at a major boom. This is where most of their economic facilities located and where there is best infrastructure as required for the smooth running of such monumental events. Some of these cities such as the Democratic Republic of Congo have already developed village centers within these cities such as the satellite towns within the now developing countries. Within these ten countries, the best six that stand out are Thomas Robinsons Stadium in the Bahamas, Bermuda National Stadium in Bermuda, Beijing National Stadium in the People's Republic of China, Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in Costa Rica, Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa in Ecuador, Cairo International Stadium in Egypt, and Salt Lake Stadium and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium both in India. This selection adhered to the PESTLE method of analysis. The initials PESTLE in PESTLE analysis stand for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental conditions of a country. It as such represents the process of analyzing and auditing a country’s external and internal environmental influences with the main objective of using the results obtained from this analysis for effective decision making (Jameson, 1997:5). In this case, the method used in the selection of the best six countries that suit the location of the youth Olympic Games in the year 2015. This analysis and audit method assumes that if investors were to know the current environmental conditions, then they would be better positioned to assess potential changes and make adjustments in a manner that best fits their investment. There is the need to be conversant with the macro-economic and macroeconomic environment to ensure that legitimate choices for the best interest of the country. The six selected sites are the best choice mainly because of their developed nature. The other four countries left out; are developing but still in the initial stages hence not extremely stable. Politically, the selected six are much more stable with involvement in political liaison with other countries. For instance, China is one of the countries that joined the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Courts. For this fact, the political governance bases its administration on democracy, fairness, and equality. Others such as Bermuda, China and Costa Rica are democratic in handling public and governing issues making them better suited (Yuri, 2010:23). Environmentally, China, India and Costa Rica and the others mostly experience significant seasonal variations between summer and winter. This is to mean that the expected effects of the youth Olympics held in both summer and winter will be a comfortable and accommodating experience. Once all the bids go through the selection process, the best site is then selected through the consideration of previous experience in the hosting of key events in their stadiums such as other athletics competition events or some of the past Olympics games. This is to say that the selection bases on the capability of a nation to host these events. This fact is abundantly established through the study of past events previously held at the stadium. Questions that come to mind are: Which athletics events have these countries held? What was the general turn out of t events? What other alternative to the stadium is there? What other key events held in that country’s stadiums? Through the investigation of such queries, it is possible to establish which countries have better ground in terms of dealing with the actual event. Those undertaking the selection process also examine such facts as how the country handled upcoming issues and challenges in the previous events. The best in terms of experience in dealing with such events in terms of totality of events held there, the outcome of the events and their capacity to face any arising issues is ideally the best suited to host the youth Olympic games. The Beijing national stadium and the Salt Slay Lake Stadium in India are the best two choices based on this classification mode. The Beijing national stadium in China is in the Olympic Green. This stadium has been hosting various events before and well equipped to hold a sizeable total population capacity. It can comfortably accommodate a capacity of 80,000 seats with the farthest seat being about 460 feet (140 meters) from the center of the field. This short distance enables all the viewers within the stadium to have a better view of the competitions that are running in the field. The temperatures and airflow of the surfaces are maintained at an optimum state to increase the rate of airflow and ventilation within the stadium. It also has all the current modern necessary health and safety equipments, with various entry and exit places to reduce congestions during entry and exits. There is a village consisting of a shopping mall and hotel overlooking the stadium established by Mr. Li as designated facilities for the stadiums Olympic events. The Beijing national stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the athletics events of the year 2008. It also hosted the same opening and closing ceremonies for the summer Olympics and football finals of the same year 2008. Also from September 6th to September 17th 2008 the same stadium also held for the opening and closing ceremonies for the year 2008 summer Paralympics events. The stadium is especially designed for track and field events, and it continues to host the countries sporting events such as the 2009 Italian super cup (Weiwei, 2008: p.18). The Salt Lake Stadium of India is also a well established stadium with the physical and technological capacity to host the youth Olympics events. It is the second largest non-race track stadium in the world. It has been host to many external and internal sporting events for many years. In the year 1987, it hosted SAF Games events and has also hosted various significant home athletics events. It is easily accessible by metropolitan bypass and also by road (Hailey, 2011:5). Football and cricket are the main sporting events in this stadium. India is especially known for its cricket teams and leagues. It is the main sport there and taken extremely seriously. The Salt Lake Stadium is the one that holds the annual cricket festivities and events within the country. The Beijing national stadium is selected for its capacity both physically and technologically to host the 2015 youth Olympics events. It is also highly experienced in terms of holding Olympic events though fairly a current stadium (Demick, 2009:10). On the other hand, the Salt Lake Stadium in India is selected also for it capacity physically and technologically to host such events. It is also an old stadium that has been hosting various football and sporting events hence well established with facilities and measures to handle such events. It has already developed infrastructure such as hotels, medical and safety facilities that tested through previous events, improved and perfected over the year. Therefore, the best selection of a country to host the youth Olympic Games is one that undergoes such analysis as discussed above. It should also be well experienced to hold such significant events such as China and India. Bibliography Bening, L. (2011). IOC launches 2018 Youth Olympic Games Bid Process. International Olympic Committee. Demick, B. (2009). Sports News: "Beijing's Olympic Building Boom Becomes a Bust". Los Angeles Times. Hailey, J. (2011). Cricket News: Inspections at Salt Lake Stadium. Indian times. Hartman, J. (2001). Winter Youth Olympic Games. International Olympics Committee. 2011. Jameson, M. (1997). Economics: PESTLE Analysis. Birmingham: Routledge Publishing. Sharlton, J. (2009). The Economy: Micro and Macroeconomics of Investments, London: Sage Publications. Sunderl, C. (2000). World Olympics: Bidding for Youth Olympic Games. Los Angeles Times. Thompson, R. (2011). Investments: Environment and Risk Analysis, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Weiwei, A. (2008). Chinas New Faces: The National Stadium. Birmingham: Routledge Publishing Yuri, A. (2010). India’s Salt Lake Stadium. Sports Journal. 24(6): 18-29. . Read More