Johan, out of interest, which Olympiads made a net profit and how long after building large, expensive facilities have they repaid the debts – if at all?
How would you build e.g. a temporary aquatic arena of the required standard for the Olympics?
In recent memory, Barcelona (1992) and Sydney (2000) are generally considered to have held successful, cost-effective events. Others, like Beijing (2008), never intended to make money from it; it was a complete PR exercise. Tokyo (2020/2022) is difficult to judge given Covid, though I think their use of temporary stadiums/facilities is perhaps the best example we've seen. Paris, too, will make use of several temporary facilities or ones that will be repurposed after the Games.
Not all facilities can be temporary, of course. The report I mention notes that, indeed, Cape Town's only major weakness is a world class aquatic facility. I can imagine that such a facility would also be useful after the event, though, given South Africa's wealth of swimming talent.
Hey Johan & Pieter - Putting up a temporary world class aquatic facility is pretty straight forward these days. Even Paris aquatic centre for swimming is inside Paris La Defense Arena... "The two temporary Olympic swimming pools, at Paris La Défense Arena this year, were constructed by the same Italian company (Myrtha Pools) that built pools for the Summer Games in Atlanta, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo. They are filled with around 660,000 gallons of water and have a depth of 2.15 metres"
But yes, we desperately need any size facilities to tap into South Africa's hidden swimming talent.
Someone CC Gayton McKenzie
Johan, out of interest, which Olympiads made a net profit and how long after building large, expensive facilities have they repaid the debts – if at all?
How would you build e.g. a temporary aquatic arena of the required standard for the Olympics?
Great questions, Pieter.
In recent memory, Barcelona (1992) and Sydney (2000) are generally considered to have held successful, cost-effective events. Others, like Beijing (2008), never intended to make money from it; it was a complete PR exercise. Tokyo (2020/2022) is difficult to judge given Covid, though I think their use of temporary stadiums/facilities is perhaps the best example we've seen. Paris, too, will make use of several temporary facilities or ones that will be repurposed after the Games.
Not all facilities can be temporary, of course. The report I mention notes that, indeed, Cape Town's only major weakness is a world class aquatic facility. I can imagine that such a facility would also be useful after the event, though, given South Africa's wealth of swimming talent.
Thanks for the insights, Johan.
Hey Johan & Pieter - Putting up a temporary world class aquatic facility is pretty straight forward these days. Even Paris aquatic centre for swimming is inside Paris La Defense Arena... "The two temporary Olympic swimming pools, at Paris La Défense Arena this year, were constructed by the same Italian company (Myrtha Pools) that built pools for the Summer Games in Atlanta, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo. They are filled with around 660,000 gallons of water and have a depth of 2.15 metres"
But yes, we desperately need any size facilities to tap into South Africa's hidden swimming talent.