PRESENTATION:

On July 6th, 2005 the International Olympic committee announced the attribution of the organization of the 2012 Olympic Games at London, to the detriment of Paris.
From a projected budget of 3 billion euros, it reached 12 billion euros, that is to say four times more. But the current world financial crisis is hardly favourable to such an overspend on the budget. (appendix 1 Timesonline 1/3 - appendix 2 Guardian 1/3)

I) THE CHALLENGE:

Chosen for the Olympic Games at a time when the economy and The City went well, London must now re-examine her ambition downwards.
A few times ago, Tessa Jowell, the minister in charge of the Olympic Games asked this question ‹‹ Had we known what we know now, would we have bid for the Olympics? Almost certainly not›› (appendix 3 Telegraph 1/2)
This question, of course, gave rise to many comments throughout the United Kingdom.

II) The EXPERIENCE Of OTHER CITIES:

In this context, can one predict that the London games will be an economic disaster?
Before giving an opinion, let us see whether one can draw the lessons from what the other cities went through:

- 1984: LOS ANGELES

An Olympiad which can be praised to have changed the form of the modern Games. Rather than building prestigious sites which would have had good effect the screen but explode the budget, the existing equipment has been improved. The president of the organizing committee of the Games of Los Angeles, transformed the event into a business. Los Angeles carried out a pretty benefit of more than 200 million dollars - they were the first Games with being profitable since 1932. They had moreover an economic impact on the south of California estimated at 3 billion dollars (2.3 billion euros).
That shows that it is possible, at least, for big cities to benefit from the Games and earn money and show sport.

- 1988: SEOUL

Seoul showed Beijing that the Games could also have for consequence a political up rising. While the