Olympic Preparation Impact on Cities

As well as a blog entry, the basis for my final paper is the impact the Olympic games have on cities as they prepare themselves for the Olympic bid process. As I prepared for our trip to London, I continually stumbled across articles or news features stating that London had never been better than it is right now as the city prepares for this summer’s games. That got me thinking about the preparation process that cities across the globe go through before they even become a front-runner to host the world’s biggest sporting event. To make a run at an Olympic bid, a city must prove to the International Olympic Committee that it can adequately handle any and every obstacle that comes with the games. It forces a city to drastically improve itself for one sole purpose: hosting the Summer Olympics.

            In 2008, I remember watching as Chicago saw its hopes of hosting the 2016 Olympics crushed. I thought to myself, “No big deal, you can get the next one since you were so close”. It wasn’t until I got accepted into the LSU in London program that I began looking at what it takes for a city to become a host. While I spent six days in Barcelona, Spain, I visited their beautiful Olympic area so I would have something to compare London’s to. On that visit, I learned that the park wasn’t originally intended for the 1992 summer games; rather it was constructed to host a previous Olympiad. From safety to transportation and everything in between, a host city has to have a thorough plan for anything the IOC might have concerns about. The time it takes for preparing a city is something else to take into consideration. Many cities prepare as far ahead as 20 years before they make a presentation to the IOC.

            Adventuring through London, it is easy to see the modifications the city has made to make the Olympics as great as possible. The most common thing I notice is the pink notations on the maps on the tube marking where different Olympic sites are around the city, making it easier for visitors to find particular competition locations during the games. I’ve also found it interesting how spread out all the sites are, including soccer matches taking place as far as Glasgow. It amazes me that one place can lay claim to being the host of the Olympics and events can be on the opposite side of the country, or in this case, a different country.