A sporting chance?

Olympic cities are often left with debt and idle grounds. London hopes for better, says Richard Fitzpatrick

QUEBECKERS were excited to host the 1976 Olympics. There were concerns about the running costs, but they were batted away by the city mayor. “The Montréal Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby,” said Jean Drapeau. The city was left with a debt of £600m, which took taxpayers until 2006 to pay.

Winning the right to host the ‘greatest show on Earth’ can be a poisoned chalice. Even the Sydney Olympics of 2000 — regarded as the best organised in living memory — left no legacy, excepting lucrative consultancy work for Australians in Beijing.