This is going to hurt their economy for quite a while.
So, something good did come from China hosting the Olympics after all!
This whole thing was promoted as China’s coming out party to the world. All its ended up being is a costly attempt by the communists to prop up its image with its own people.
Its a “singing to the choir” moment.
Nothing about China’s image has been changed by all this. What most people are going to remember is the images of polluted skies, 12 year old gymnists and the tainted judging, empty seats in the stands, and how their own countries athletes performed.
So, something good did come from China hosting the Olympics after all!
Not even close. Most of the $40 billion or so was used to expand and/or upgrade the cities infrastructure. So the overall figure is a bit misleading. Beijing will continue to expand their infrastructure even more. What they've built for the Olympics isn't enough for a future Beijing.
Also, many cities, such as Athens, Syndey and Montreal, etc. are much smaller than Beijing. Montreal for example has 3 million people (which by the way, just paid off their 1976 Olympics debt) whereas Beijing has 17 million (and will easily soar past 20 million sometime in the next decade). The additional sports facilities can easily be absorbed into a city of this size.
Also, most of the funding in other parts of the world receive funding via the local municipalities. In the case of Beijing, it came from the national coffers.
There have been SNAFU's and there maybe some more before closing ceremonies. But when all is said and done, most Chinese will be proud of what they've accomplished..