Has the Olympics really created a 'feel-good factor' or is that just a meaningless cliche?

[Monty91]

Has London really been 'buzzing with energy'?

I mean, no doubt people have enjoyed it, but has it had any more of a wide-spread impact on people's dispositions as, say, a sunny weekend?

[Luis Anaconda]

[Snin]

now..Athens never pulled out of it and even Bejing couldnt stop it..salt lake city had a recession..we doomed i tell ye fecking doomed...we already in double dip flat lining economy...happy days http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/smile.gif

But what happens to London’s expansive Olympic facilities once the curtain drops and the Games end?

The host sites of the previous two Summer Olympics — Athens and Beijing, respectively — provide cautionary tales about what can happen to Olympian infrastructure once the Games end.

“Eight years after the 2004 Athens Games, many of the Olympic venues Greece built at great expense remain abandoned or rarely used,” the Associated Press reported Friday. “They are the focus of great public anger as the country struggles through a fifth year of recession and nearly three years of a debt crisis that has seen a surge in poverty and unemployment.”

Two weeks ago the sports blog Sportige wrote, “One of the great fears of Olympic organizers is that after all the investment and planning, everything they’ve built for the Olympics will never be used again once the two magical weeks are over. Such is the case with many of the stadiums and facilities used for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, with many of then not even in existence anymore.”

Similar to the Olympics, the World Cup soccer tournament that South Africa hosted in 2010 required hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure expenditures. And several of those soccer stadiums specifically constructed for the World Cup appear to be on the precipice of sinking into irrelevance.

The international sports website sport24 reported last month, “South Africans must watch less TV and more live events, so stadiums used for the 2010 Soccer World Cup do not become white elephants, South Africa Football Association CEO Robin Petersen said (July 12). … Cape Town Stadium, which was controversially not awarded matches for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament, is considered among the facilities not being used to its full advantage.”

Of course, a city can successfully parlay Olympics infrastructure into long-term benefits. Last week Forbes.com’s Kenneth Rapoza noted, “Salt Lake City hosted the winter games in 2002. It cost the city an estimated $2 billion and was one of the most expensive ever. But when the Olympics left, the city went into a deep recession. The good news was that no debt was built up after the games. The Olympic committee there actually made a profit and used it to create endowments to keep some of the venues running, and Utah became one of the new hubs for large winter sporting events. Since 2002, there has been 62 large sporting events, seven world championships, 90 Olympics-related events and in terms of money — over $1 billion pumped into the economy because of those hosted events.”

[Snin]

[Monty91]

[Luis Anaconda]

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

People will be running and cycling and all that today.

[Brentwood]

the swimming pool for example, plus the cycling arena.

Look at the millenium dome and the London Eye. They are constantly busy every single day throughout the year.

[Mack]

Now THAT'S a 'feel good' factor.

http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/wave.gif

[Monty91]

Found a club at the arse(nal) end of Holloway Road that I'm gonna try out tomorrow night...

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

I had my own bat.

Used to try and do the throw the ball in the air serve etc.

http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/hide.gif

[Snin]

[Mack]

The shame http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/frown.gif

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

[Monty91]

it might be worth picking it up again. Four years till Rio, so you never know. Could be a great story.

[Snin]

in some form or another

[Brentwood]

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

Quickly followed by "I shagged your table tennis gold medal winner" exclusive by that tranny thing you had over there last time.

[Ghost of Highbury]

[Classic Jorge]

This, coupled with the reduced funding for schools to let other sports clubs use their facilities, means that most clubs of any type are struggling to be solvent, let alone be in a position to take advantage of new members.

[Mack]

[Snin]

18) Venue: Velodrome
Location: In the North of the Olympic Park
Hosting: Track Cycling, BMX, Paralympic Track Cycling.
Capacity: 6000 in the Velodrome (permanent), 6000 at the BMX track (temporary)
About: Totally new venue with the velodrome having two tiers, with a glass window in between the tiers for a 360-degree view of the Olympic Park.
Fact: Sir Chris Hoy was involved in the design process of the Velodrome.
Post Games: The BMX seating will be removed and the track reconfigured. A new mountain bike course and road cycle circuit will be added to create one venue which will encompass all disciplines of the sport.

1) Venue: Aquatics Centre
Location: South-east Corner of the Olympic Park
Hosting: Diving, Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo, Paralympic Swimming, Modern Pentathlon.
Capacity: 17,500 for Diving and Swimming events and 5,000 for Water Polo.
About: New venue for the Games, with a stunning wave-like roof 160m long and 80m wide.
Fact: The roof of the centre will have a longer single span than Heathrow Terminal 5
Post Games: It will be transformed into a facility for locals as well as elite swimmers. Two of the wings will be removed leaving a maximum capacity of 3,500.

[Luis Anaconda]

here. Admittedly a much smaller city but even with Bayern and 1860 moving to the Allianz there is so much going on there

[Classic Jorge]

Local authority prices are bad enough

[Bergkamp's Brain]

and it all becomes a distant memory before too long, leaving you with nothing but memories and maybe an STD if you got lucky

[Mack]

[Snin]

we will be fecked and down to 1 gold etc again imo

[The Tony]

No idea of the concept of a disunited Kingdom.

Iranians sure used it to their advantage to offload a few nuclear underground tests....earthquake my arse.

[Brentwood]

I went to look at the Barcelona olympic site and it was a bit of a ghost town

[Luis Anaconda]

[Classic Jorge]

There was a local authority subsidy for these people to be able to let others use them. This has been removed now which means that the prices have skyrocketed for those still able to use the facilities, in most cases though it just isnt viable to use them any more.

Also, Sport England - the govt body charged with developing participation, clubs and elite sport - has been cut to the bone, both in terms of financial funding and staffing.

In short, in order to pay for the olympics the country disbanded its entire sports infrastructure.

[Brentwood]

We should be focussing all of our efforts on ensuring that our fee paying schools get access to the best coaches and equipment

http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/fishing.gif

[Monty91]

female Iranian medal winner who shook hands with a man after receiving her medal is gonna be in for a world of trouble if/when she goes home.

[Mack]

facilities are second to none. Then again this didn't do their elite athletes much good this time around..

[Dorset Gooner]

[Snin]

much more backward and fecked up, Tehran is a pretty ok place according to colleague who goes there a lot, women not all covered up at all, quite often just headscarfes, some tight jeans and they work in business and of course shake hands. Iranians booted out by old regime living in london are bit like cubans in miami..ex imperialist dodgy sorts who now come up with ****e loads of ****e about their original home country

[Brentwood]

It's free to go running in the street, most people can afford a bicycle, anyone can afford a few of quid to use the public swimming pools

I used to play for an unsubsidised handball team in the UK and it cost each player about 5 quid a week to pay for the hall hire

Kenyans and Ethiopians seems to do ok

[Dorset Gooner]

A Tory I seem to recall, John Major no less. For a minute I thought you were going to give some credit........

[Classic Jorge]

ironically, the sports minister at the time was colin moynahan, who is now complaining about it all so bitterly as chair of the BOA

[Dorset Gooner]

how many of these school playing fields that were "sold" still have schools attached to them? In other words the schools were closed hence why the fields were sold. I think it was one that has actually been sold. Anyhow if it wasn't for all the social scratchers that stretch this country we would then have money to invest in things like schools.

[Brentwood]

Including the fact that it's hard to compare one govt with another because they change the definition of what a playing field is

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/702537.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/mar/30/schools.uk

[Luis Anaconda]

your post with the arch Daily Mail/Express comment

[Supermac1976]

http://www.popbitch.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/sc010a3760-651x1024.jpg

[Classic Jorge]

[Classic Jorge]

[Classic Jorge]

Just to be clear though, I'm not making a party political point here, more that successive government's policy has been massively at fault, or at least contrary to what they are actually saying.

Personally I couldnt give a monkeys, you can play football anywhere and that's what makes it the greatest game on earth and the only one that really matters on a global scale.

[Luis Anaconda]

[Brentwood]

we still find something to moan about http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/hehe.gif

[Classic Jorge]

personally I just like pointing out mendacity in politicians

[Classic Jorge]