Host Countries Investing in Olympic Grassroots Growth

The Olympic Games has always been a great way to expand your city and country’s international notability, but many counties use the Olympics for many other reasons. The growth of your countries infrastructure, transportation systems, economy, national pride, and the relevancy of your Olympic Sport teams are all extras that come along with investing in an Olympic Games. The latter is something that has been more and more popular within the past 20 years. With sports being more than athletics competed on the field, and costing an incredible amount of money, countries see the positives that are gained from financing sports competed at the Olympic Games in the hardware that they bring home.

                Sydney, Australia. Host of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. It has been reported that the taxpayers of Australia paid roughly $588 million to the Australian Sports Commission of Olympic sport in anticipation of the 2000 Games in Sydney. In the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Australia brought home just 27 medals, only 7 of which were gold, and in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Australia brought home 41 Medals, 23 of which were bronze. Australia sent 290 and 424 athletes to these games, respectively. For the 2000 Summer Games, hosted in their country and largest city, the Aussies had 630 competitors spanning every event. They won 58 medals, including 16 gold medals, both of which were the most of any Australian national team in history. The investments have continued to allow for Australia to bring home a lot of medals, 49 in Athens in 2004 and 46 in Beijing in 2008.

                Beijing, China. Host of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Although the amount of money spent on specifically sports for the 2008 games were not released by the Chinese, the total amount spent on the Olympics was nearly $40 billion. In Sydney in 2000, the Chinese brought home 58 total medals, with 28 being gold. In 2004, in Athens, Greece, Team China won 63 medals, 32 of which being gold. When the Olympic torch finally arrived in Beijing, China in 2008, the Chinese Olympic Team nearly doubled their medal count with 100 total medals. 51 gold, 21 silver, 28 bronze. This growth in medals have continued into the 2012 Olympic Games, with China being tied for the lead in medals going into the third day with the United States, the perennial power house in the Olympic Games.

                London, England. Host of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. So here we are; the first city in history to host three different Olympic Games. Team Great Britain has gotten a complete overhaul in planning for these 2012 games. The London Olympic Planning Committee has been called out for its free-spending method, which brought the cost of these games from a modest €2.7 billion to an outrageous €9.3 billion, at last estimate previous to the games getting underway. €183 million were pledged to fund grassroots efforts for Team Great Britain. Great Britain hopes that these Olympic Games will finally be their cannon into the realm of Olympic powerhouses, joining the likes of the United States, China, Russia, and Germany. The 2008 Olympics yielded the most medals in history for Team Great Britain, at 47, which placed GB fourth most among all countries, behind China, the USA, and Russia. This year they have very high hopes, and they hope that the spirit of London can propel them near the top of the medal chart.