[Closed] So was the Olympics woth the cost ? 9 billion and counting... 6months on

You did miss out CG, loads of people were inspired by the Olympics not just the elite few, I'm a support worker for people with LD's, young addicts and young offenders and I saw some that were inspired either to buy a bike, go swimming or just try to move a bit more,
now every other Friday I get paid to ride my bike with a young lad who saved £500 (a huge amount to him) and bought a spesh hardrock disc, and he loves it, he's getting fitter and more confident, got himself a girlfriend and got a job..
To me that's worth 9billion on its own, it wasn't all Dressage and rowing you know..

I'm sure you spent the time doing something a lot more worthwhile than enjoying yourself

Tidying her cave probably

now every other Friday I get paid to ride my bike with a young lad who saved £500 (a huge amount to him) and bought a spesh hardrock disc, and he loves it, he's getting fitter and more confident, got himself a girlfriend and got a job..

The win is strong with this one...! Love it! 🙂

I dont get the "alienate" statement, what i remeber most was pretty much everyone i spoke to at the time talking about how great it was. An example was me out on my bike and stopping to some old geezer who was picking blackberries, his openening line was "did you see that wiggins lad in the olympics?" twenty minutes later we had talked at length about the whole thing and what we had enjoyed, he was 77 years old so was not likely to benefit in any way from any "legacy" but enjoyed it non the less. It was the first time in a long time that i saw people generally being more comunicative about the country and dare i say positive. Maybe i'm just a more positive person.... 😀

i missed the lot. im just too busy in work that time of year. oh and i dont have a tv. i feel like i missed out a bit.

the money though? course its worth it! and thats coming from someone who had to contribute but watched none of it and had no benifit from it due to living in wales.

£9 Billion really isnt that much. its not far off what we have allowed vodaphone and starbucks not to pay this year if certain sources are to be believed

Yes.
Was in the stadium when David Weir got his gold in the 5000 I think and it was one of the most powerful situations I've been in, the noise and emotion were amazing.

A friends 13 year old daughter who is an amazing swimmer ....she gave it up and preferred doing the usual things with her friends instead.....

She saw the olympics....inspired her and got back into it and she is now selected for olympic training.

I'm biased, I was a Games maker - so I am going to be positive about the whole games experience. Was it worth it? Very had to quantify it. No doubt we will end with some 'white' elephants and £9Bn is a lot of money. In pure monetry terms, probably not.

But in gave the majority of the UK population and summer that few will forget. We showed that the UK can deliver a massive projects on time. We invited the world to a party, they came and celebrated with us. We talked to each other on trains, buses, pubs, parks about what we had seen and what we liked. Watching tired children being taken home after a day that they will never forget.

The nay sayers said
- We couldn't do it
- no one would come
- the tickets would never be sold
- no one would watch the Olympic Torch relay
- Team GB would not win any medals

Well we did it, we came, we wanted to go to the events, we all wanted to be part of the dream, and our athletes delivered.

So was it worth it? You can make up your mind up. Sadly today $9 Bn does not go a long way and not all the money is wasted (new stadia, cleaned up a small part of East London). But how do you value dreams and memories?

Yes it was worth it, Yes C-G you missed something. I was completely cynical about it. Then I sat in a field watching the opening ceremony on a big screen. Then joined the hundreds and thousands lining the roads for the mens road race. Then rode on closed roads the following morning to the cheers of the games makers and marshalls. And stood in the rain cheering the women on that afternoon. Seeing that many people cheering on cyclists, seeing girls from the likes of Mexico, Hong Kong and Venezuela flying into a wet corner through a wall of noise with massive grins, preceded by bike cops high-fiving the crowds...

I am a grinch and as a rule hate crowds but it was epic. I can only imagine what being in a stadium or velodrome was like.

I think it transformed our image of ourselves as a nation- the press went with us all being negative and pessimistic only to be completely confounded by the vast majority.

- the tickets would never be sold

The handling of the ticket sales was a bit rubbish though imo.
Along with the logo.
And the Mascots.

Phew, I was beginning to think I'd have nothing to moan about 🙂

IMO Worth every penny. Most of the £9b was circulated in the UK economy, hence providing jobs, taxable pay, investment in UK industry etc. And on top of that we got a great sporting spectacle for free.

I thought it was awesome and a genuinely uplifting moment, I was lucky enough to get tickets to see Jade Jones win gold in the taekwondo and then go the next day to the BMX. Tip of the cap to the Gamesmakers who made London feel genuinely welcoming despite the crowds.

Without a CBA can't really say it was 'worth' the cost (and its hard to cost happiness anyway) but it certainly seems to have touched a lot of people - there are a lot of folk at my work suddenly interested in road and track cycling and at least a couple of them planning a trip up to the commonwealth games which is nice.

Still too early to make any meaningful economic case- we can't effectively sort out the meaningful legacy from the half-assed buzzwordery, etc. TBF I'm not sure the profit/loss was that important, we've passed the point where the world economy makes any damn sense anyway so it's just another digit on a made up number 😉

midlifecrashes - Member

Given that it all happened a long way away, I guess I'd have enjoyed it nearly as much if it had been the Paris Olympics, which would have been cheaper.

Can't help but agree with this tbh. I loved the olympics but it mostly happened in a far off country, on my tax dollar, and it inevitably was yet another way that London drew national funding inwards. Hard to feel too positive about that side of things.

IMO Worth every penny. Most of the £9b was circulated in London and the south east, hence providing jobs, taxable pay, investment in UK industry etc in the parts of the country that least need investment

Enjoyed the event but we couldn't really afford it could we.

grum - Member
IMO Worth every penny. Most of the £9b was circulated in London and the south east, hence providing jobs, taxable pay, investment in UK industry etc in the parts of the country that least need investment
Enjoyed the event but we couldn't really afford it could we.

I thought it was amazing. The Olympics isn't about the money, and it should never be.

It's about my three year old son watching the sport, turning to me, and saying "I'm going to do that Daddy". And then setting up a steeplechase course from cushions, belting up and down the living room practising his 'running skills'.

If even a handful of kids do that and then go on to replicate, and surpass, the achievements of this summer, then it's been a success.

I was pretty cynical about the games before they began, and certain elements of that cynicism were completely justified (corporate fast food sponsorship etc etc) but the actual games themselves were a triumph. I was up in Stratford yesterday and the facilities are incredible. If the park is managed correctly it should provide the legacy to that part of London that was promised. That's the real test of whether it was worth it.

CG you have to see Gemma Gibbons thanking her mum that was worth 9 billion alone, Hardly elitist.

Enjoyed the event but we couldn't really afford it could we.

The Olympics was a good example of Keynesian economics, a large investment in public infrastructure, funded by debt, to boost the economy to help recover from a recession. Text book stuff. We actually need more of that sort of thing rather than less. After all, this austerity nonsense isn't exactly working....

I thought it was amazing. The Olympics isn't about the money, and it should never be.

It's about my three year old son watching the sport, turning to me, and saying "I'm going to do that Daddy". And then setting up a steeplechase course from cushions, belting up and down the living room practising his 'running skills'.

If even a handful of kids do that and then go on to replicate, and surpass, the achievements of this summer, then it's been a success.

This. My four year old daughter pretends to be Lizzie Armisted when she goes out on her bike after we went to watch the women's road race ( she also pretends to be Mark Cavendish's 'wife', which I'm less enamoured with). One of the objectives of the games was to "inspire a generation"' it's one of the main reasons London won the bid. How can that be a bad thing? It's too early to measure ROI but as someone who visited the games, you will never be able to measure the feel good factor and optimism of everyone I encountered over the weekend we were there. And were the games elitist? The road race for instance, apart from Box Hill and the start/finish you could stand anywhere on the course and watch for free. We watched the men's road race leave and return through Putney and people from all walks of life littered the course, happy to be part of the Olympics. Of course if you stubbornly refused to watch any of it, you would have missed this, but then you are hardly qualified to comment on the Olympics from an objective perspective.

Gemma Gibbons thanking her mum that was worth 9 billion alone

My four year old daughter pretends to be Lizzie Armisted when she goes out on her bike after we went to watch the women's road race ( she also pretends to be Mark Cavendish's 'wife', which I'm less enamoured with)

So right, then sooooo wrong! 🙂

I felt a bit detached from it all at first, a bit meh but once the flame started on its journey I kind of started taking more and more notice and then got caught up in the whole thing. Didn't watch events 24/7 but certainly enjoyed what I did see. IMO well worth it. Plus it's hard to measure the intangibles - the knock on effect to trade on a World forum. It put GB out there in a good light and that can only be good.

ps it's [i]Armitstead[/i]! She really does get p155ed off when people miss out the '[i]t[/i]' 😉

And, C_G - did you really not see/hear/read about any of it? [i]Really?[/i]

ps it's Armitstead! She really does get p155ed off when people miss out the 't

The 'a' was missing as well, I'm blamin he iPad for this one!

The

crashtestmonkey - Member

I am a grinch and as a rule hate crowds but it was epic. I can only imagine what being in a stadium or velodrome was like.

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it was very good indeed! 🙂

If it cost double the amount then it'd still be worth the money

The Olympics was a good example of Keynesian economics, a large investment in public infrastructure, funded by debt, to boost the economy to help recover from a recession. Text book stuff. We actually need more of that sort of thing rather than less. After all, this austerity nonsense isn't exactly working....

I agree actually, it's just that the main benefit was where it was least needed.

I think it is hard to quantify in pure financial terms but in feel good factor, bringing the country together, people talking etc yes it was worth it for me.
My young lads (4 and 6) were hooked from the moment the torch relay went through our town. They watched wall to wall sport and when they weren't watching they were outside trying to emulate the sports stars (handball, volleyball, tennis, cycling, running and the list went on and on). For my lads to look up to people with a talent that had worked hard for something is the way it should be (not reality show people with no talent).

If we can inspire the young generation to take up sport then there could be enormous savings to health bills in future years. If we can get this country active again, then it has been worthwhile for me.

With regards to being elitist I don't agree. OK, there are some sports that require money but it doesn't cost a lot to run, cycle etc.

the olympics only made a loss as far as the public purse is concerned. i'd be willing to wager that nike, adidas, macdonalds, coca cola, the private financers, insurers, developers et al did more than ok out of it. as usual, the poorest in society subsidise the rich to get richer.

I watched this over Christmas

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bigscreen/tv/episode/b01m880f/

And still got a feeling of pride..

Not worth it to watched it?

Give this a watch and see what you think. Only available for 4 hours on the I players tho, so be quick.

Dark Side - Member

This. My four year old daughter pretends to be Lizzie Armisted when she goes out on her bike after we went to watch the women's road race. One of the objectives of the games was to "inspire a generation"'

Kids do that whether or not there's been an olympics. (I was Les Collins the speedway rider)

There's a lot of talk about inspiring a generation, again far too early to see, if this generation grows up sportier then we'll know it probably worked.

So was the Olympics woth the cost ? 9 billion and counting... 6months on

Probably worth £9Bn but not the £25Bn+ it really cost... ...it will go down in history as the most expensive games ever 😯

it will go down in history as the most expensive games ever

Until the next Olympics

Edit: next one probably still benefits from cheap labour so maybe not

Where are thy being held next ?

Rio

Fantastic, cant wait !

It's 2013, can we finally give up talking about the Olympics? It already feels like it's going to take over from constantly mentioning the 1966 world cup

Boba Fatt - Member
It's 2013, can we finally give up talking about the Olympics? It already feels like it's going to take over from constantly mentioning the 1966 world cup

POSTED 2 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Aaaah, you appear uninspired........dont let the inner party find out !