Going for gold
Athens Initial budget: €4.5 bn, with 39.7% allocated to infrastructure and 29.9% on sport venues and equipment Final cost: Estimated to reach €8.954bn(state and private funding) Economy and Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis described the final bill for bringing the Olympic Games back to their homeland “substantially overshot the budget”. It was reported the budget […]
Athens
Panathenean stadium in Athens was the first to host the modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Initial budget: €4.5 bn, with 39.7% allocated to infrastructure and 29.9% on sport venues and equipment
Final cost: Estimated to reach €8.954bn(state and private funding)
Economy and Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis described the final bill for bringing the Olympic Games back to their homeland “substantially overshot the budget”. It was reported the budget had doubled from original estimates.
Interesting fact: Nikos Athanassakis, spokesman for opposition party PASOK accused Alogoskoufis of “political fraud” over the cost of the games and the transparency of which construction projects should come under the Olympic bill. There were also accusations that tax generated from increased business over the course of the games had not been counted in government figures.
