Will Greece be an Olympic winner?

Hosting the Olympic Games can often prove a long-standing drain on a country's resources, but there are up sides too - at Moneyweek.co.uk - the best of the week's international financial media.

Hosting the Olympic Games can often prove a long-standing drain on a country's resources, but there are up sides too, as Simon Nixon explains.

How did Greece come to stage the Olympic Games in 2004?Greece was awarded the Olympic Games in 1997, largely as a sop for having lost out to Atlanta in the race to host the centenary Olympiad in 1996. Atlanta's commercialism also worked in Greece's favour. Many believed the Olympics had drifted too far from its amateur roots. As the birthplace of the ancient Games and the site of the first modern Olympics, Greece was reckoned to be best-placed to revive the Olympic spirit. But giving the Games to Greece was a risk. A modern Olympics is a massive undertaking for any country, even more so for a country of just ten million people with inadequate infrastructure and a history of corruption and incompetence. The terrorist attacks of September 11 only added to the problems. Suddenly, Athens had to spend record sums on security, adding to the costs of the Games.

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Simon Nixon

Simon is the chief leader writer and columnist at The Times and previous to that, he was at The Wall Street Journal for 9 years as the chief European commentator. Simon also wrote for Reuters Breakingviews as the Executive Editor earlier in his career. Simon covers personal finance topics such as property, the economy and other areas for example stockmarkets and funds.