Labelled as a whimper rather than a bang, Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony will be less remembered for its spectacle and more for the pandemic environment in which it aired. There were fireworks, but no big audience to cheer for them. There were spectacular drone shows(pic below), but no eyes that glimmered at the sight!
Little do people know that Tokyo had been preparing for hosting the Olympic Games from last 8 years! Yes! Because that is how long before are the countries and cities chosen as hosts before the actual games. The Olympics requires a world-class infrastructure & countries are given time to build those.
In 2019, India submitted a bid for 2032 Games but was effectively eliminated from the race, as the bid was awarded to Brisbane. However, a common trend in the Olympic world shows that a failed attempt for one bid can be a stepping stone for a victorious bid in the coming years. Probably this is what is motivating India to prepare for 2048 Olympic Games now.
One might contest, why so much efforts for some games – especially at the time when country is struggling to recover from the deadly viruses?
An Opportunistic Event
Well, bidding for Olympics is a long-term vision for infrastructure development. The Olympic Games are designed with the conviction of leaving an indelible mark on host cities by providing an impetus to national and international investments, foreign relations, world-class infrastructure, tourism, sporting culture, etc. A developing country like India could definitely benefit from some push.
After all, it has some good precedents:
The 1988 Seoul Games: Enormous profits led to transformative reforms and an elevated international image;
The 1992 Barcelona Games: Adjudged Barcelona as one of the top world tourist destinations after the games, creating about 20,000 permanent jobs and a solid sporting heritage thereafter in Spain.
The 2012 London Games(pic below): Gave the UK economy a boost of 9.9 billion pounds.
Typically, an Olympic Games is funded through public money, national and international corporates, multinational sponsorship deals, sale of broadcasting rights, etc. Once the Games have been granted to a city, it is a natural magnet for a plethora of investors, experts and global stakeholders.
A Redemption Tool
In 2010, India had the fantastic opportunity of making a mark in the international sporting world by hosting the Commonwealth Games(pic below) in Delhi. Little did we expect the heavily disappointing and traumatic aftermath that awaited. The CWG was criticised on almost every front – from infrastructure to the actual sporting events and was most badly hurt by corruption charges.
Eleven years on, and India has still not entirely been able to break free from its tarnished image from 2010.
Such Olympic bids and a chance to actually host Olympics could prove to be the guiding light for India to come out of the tunnel it dug for itself in 2010.
While the above two reasons alone seem to be too tempting, it is not all rosy. Let’s explore some of the thorns!
The Economic Valley Effect
This means that though the buildup to the Games sees a huge surge in investment, there is a risk of immediate following of a dramatic dip in economic activity in the post-Games period.
The 1964 Japan Games: The country saw a growth rate of 13.3%, before dropping to 5.7% the following year.
The 1976 Montreal Games(pic below): For the next 40 odd years after the games, Canadians suffered a massive deficit due to lopsided investments in social infrastructure.
Thus, the looming threat affects not just the developing nations, but also the developed ones.
Fun Fact : the 2024 Games bid saw a total of five contending cities (Paris, Los Angeles, Budapest, Hamburg and Milan), but only two bidding cities (Paris and Los Angeles) were left by the end.
The Extravagant Expenses
The past few Games have shown a trend of eventually spending almost double the amount to host the Games than estimated in their bids. China spent a whopping $44 billion for the Beijing 2008 Games, while Rio 2016 cost $13 billion. Don’t get shocked – It wasn’t all on crackers and drone shows!
Figure: Overspends in Olympics by howmuch.net
To host the Games, one city needs to have the sporting infrastructure to host 310 events (around 25 plus different sports with various disciplines) and high-end accommodation arrangements for at least 15,000 participating personnel (including athletes, referees, coaching staff, medical staff, etc.). In addition to this, there will be several delegates, VIPs, ambassadors, government heads, IOC members who need to be accommodated. And most importantly lakhs of travelling spectators – the Rio 2016 Games saw an attendance of 5,00,000 people.
Can India afford this? A country struggling for vaccines, an absolute necessity, needs to ponder!
Though it’s a matter of pride for any country to host the Olympic Games, the debate on need or practicality of the games to be hosted in India remains unending. Creating an Olympic bid not just with an outlook of hosting an event, but with one to primarily channelise development efforts for the country will prove to be a win-win. It is only when we perceive the games as a long-term development enabler, can it be made a sustainable proposition. Whether India is able to craft such a proposition for 2048 games, we can all do nothing but wait!
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By: Anmol Gupta | Isha Garg