“As water is the most precious of all elements, as gold is more valuable than any other good, as the sun shines brighter than any other star, so does Olympia shine, overshadowing all other games”. With these words the Greek poet Pindar (518 – 430 BC) praised the importance of the “original” Olympic Games, those of antiquity: an event of global resonance even then, but with a strictly local impact (especially economic). Of a completely different importance are the Olympics of the modern era, which have become one of the most important events of humanity.
A very recent study by Oxford University has shed light on the economic aspects of the Olympic Games. In particular, he analyzed the costs, which had never been studied in such detail.
BUT HOW MUCH DO YOU COST ME?
The first graph shows the total cost of the (summer) Olympic Games, considering only the "sporting costs", linked, for example, to the facilities used to carry out the competitions, the Olympic villages, administrative and operational costs (transport and food for the athletes , escorts and journalists, etc.). However, more general costs are excluded, linked to infrastructures such as roads, airports, railways which are often upgraded in view of the Olympics.
According to calculations by Oxford University, the average cost of an Olympics is around 5,2 billion US dollars. But there is a certain variability: for example, the almost 15 billion dollars spent on the 2012 London edition stand out.
BUDGET? WE DON'T CARE…
It is also interesting to understand whether and to what extent the budget originally foreseen for the Olympics has been respected or not. Well, the weight of the overruns and the subsequent "adjustments" to the budget was very significant: the various editions of the Olympics have in fact seen their initial estimates corrected by an average of 176%(!!!) ranging from a maximum overrun compared to the estimates initial 720% for the Montreal 1976 edition, to a minimum of 2% for Beijing 2008 – in short, the Chinese have been good in their predictions. For the record, the Oxford researchers point out that there are no other "megaprojects" with budget overruns as high as those of the Olympics (sic).
ATHLETES ARE GOLD
The second graph I show you concerns the cost of the Olympics for each athlete. It is a question of relating the total cost of each edition of the Games to the number of athletes who took part. The result is surprising.
The dynamics follow quite well that of the previous graph. But the surprising thing is the cost level: on average, about 600 dollars are spent for each Olympic athlete, with a maximum of 1,4 million dollars for the London 2012 Games, the most expensive edition from all points of view. Undoubtedly, the data should not be viewed unilaterally: sponsors, TV rights and the tourism generated by the event should at least partially offset these figures, which nonetheless remain noteworthy.
RIO 2016 IN THE AVERAGE
The Rio edition which will start on Thursday 4 August remains within the historic average for both statistics: 4,6 billion dollars spent, additional costs of 1,3 billion dollars and an average expense per athlete of around 400 thousand dollars. As we have seen in our dedicated "Country Fact Sheet", Brazil is going through difficult days, but the hope (as happened for ancient Greece) is that a month of "political truce" and a "breath of fresh air" in the world of sport are healthy for everyone.
