Beijing to break tradition of ‘white elephants’

FORMER Olympic host cities are littered with “white elephants” built in the construction frenzy that precedes the Games, but Beijing is confident its sparkling venues will not meet the same fate.

The challenge is illustrated by Athens, where nearly all the venues built for the 2004 Games now lie empty and continue to cost millions of Euros to maintain every year, casting a pall over the city’s Olympic legacy.

The need to build sustainable and usable venues has now become a key part of the Olympic bidding process, and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said Beijing had succeeded.