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Report finds no economic gains from London Olympics

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-03 11:09

LONDON -- An official report done before London's bid for the 2012 Olympics discovered that the only justification for hosting the Olympics is that it would be morale-boosting, it was revealed on Tuesday.

The 250-page strategy document called Game Plan found that the London Games would fail to deliver any lasting sporting or economic benefits. But its "inconvenient truths" were ignored by the then government led by Tony Blair, who signed it off in December 2002 and won the bid three years later, according to London Lite, a free newspaper in London.

Leading economists and civil servants reached their conclusion after being commissioned by Blair's strategy unit and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Despite its downbeat assessment, the Cabinet backed the bid on the basis that it would increase sports participation and regenerate east London.

John Clark, chief author of the report, said: "We concluded that countries should host the Olympics only for reasons of national celebration because the economic rationale is weak."

It is claimed that Game Plan, intended as a framework for sports policy for the next decade and whether Britain should bid for events such as the Olympics and football World Cup, was quietly forgotten.

"This was a robust report that showed why we should not bid for the Olympics but it was an inconvenient truth. Almost the moment the link was dry, there was a volte-face," said Stefan Szymanski, a professor at the Cass Business School.

As British economy is careening toward a deep recession, more and more people start to question the necessity to host the 2012 Games, the cost of which has tripled from 2.4 billion pounds (about $3.6 billion) to 9.3 billion pounds ($13.95 billion ), with 550 million pounds being reportedly diverted from grassroots sports.