Oh, and that could be more, according to Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. Jiang, a newly appointed deputy director of the Committee of Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports of CPPCC, the country’s political advisory body, told press on May 4 that the Beijing Games made a profit of at least $16 million USD.
“The total spending of the Beijing Olympics is on par with that of the 2004 Athens Games. We’re able to exceed the original target as the sponsors were so good,” said Jiang, “the Games made a profit of at least $ 16 million USD after deducting $ 1.609 bn USD of spending from the income of $ 1.625 bn USD.”
The numbers don’t lie. But there’re a number of ways people count them. According to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, the Beijing Games cost at least a whopping $ 40 billion USD. The enormous bill included facilities building and renovating, related infrastructure projects, four new subway lines, a high-speed rail to Tianjin, Beijing’s neighboring city, and the largest airport terminal in the world. So only God knows where this $ 16 million USD profit came from.
Sources:
- People’s Daily: Surplus of Beijing Olympic Games exceeds 16 million USD
- Xinhua: Beijing Olympics – China’s come-of-age show
Related reads:
- LA Times: Beijing goes to extremes for its Olympic face-lift
- WSJ China Journal: The $40 Billion Question: How Much Were Olympics Worth to China’s ‘Brand’?
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DeluxZilla // Mar 7, 2009 at 8:58 am
The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games made a combined $126 million USD, which they are actually still spending 25 years down the road. You mean the best the BOCOG could make of the games was $16 million USD?
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stuart // Mar 9, 2009 at 9:39 pm
As the Chinese government wouldn’t dream of falsifying figures to save face, it must be true.
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Do you cost-benefit analysis right. // Mar 10, 2009 at 2:01 am
The $40 billion includes things like subway lines and the new airport, which are not just for the Olympics but will be used many years down the road for this congested city. They should be build even without the Olympics. Why do some people keep ignoring that such infrasctrucutre constructions are long term investments? Is it about sour grapes?
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