London 2012 Olympics - Essay Example

London Olympics Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Comparative Analysis on the Success Factors of London Olympics to the OtherOlympic Events 3 Socio Cultural Effect 3 Political Gains 4 Economical Benefit 5 Comparative Analysis on the Factors of Failure of the London Olympics with Other Olympic Events 6 Increased Inflation 6 Carbon Emission 7 Increased Traffic 8 Conclusion 8 References 10 Introduction Olympic Games are among the most reputed sporting events that prevail throughout the world. The scale and grandeur of the events can be comprehended from the fact that it includes the participation of more than 200 nations of the world. The event of the Olympic includes more than 25 sports that encompass nearly 40 disciplines. These disciplines in total conduct more than 300 sporting events, further signifying its larger appeal in the global platform. The last Olympic Games were hosted by London in the year 2012 (Hunter, 2012). Gray (2012) in a report argued that “The London 2012 Olympics has vowed to be the most sustainable games ever. So how are they doing so far?” In this regard, the objective of this study is to evaluate the above statement in alignment with the factors of success of the London Olympics through comparative analysis with other Olympic events held in the last two decades of so. Comparative Analysis on the Success Factors of London Olympics to the Other Olympic Events Socio Cultural Effect One of the major factors that can depict the success of London Olympics 2012 is the improvement of socio-cultural aspect. It is important to note that the Olympics are among the major sporting event throughout the world that involves the participation maximum number of nations. It also possesses maximum number of individual participants along with sporting events, further signifying its global appeal (Hunter, 2012). Hence, spectators from different nations arrive at the venue which further creates an environment of multicultural meet at the venue city of nation. Thus, this particular social gathering results in socio-cultural bonding between different groups of people. In this regard, the London Olympics has been highly successful considering the large number of spectators visited the country from different nations of the world, which further enhanced the socio-cultural bonding among different ethnic groups. Comparatively, this particular aspect has been can be regarded to be better than that of the Athens Olympics in 2004. However, a strong argument could not be presented with regard to the socio-cultural benefits during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and Beijing Olympics in 2008 when compared to the London Olympics (Hunter, 2012; Kuper & Sterken, 2012). Political Gains Political gains of conducting any mega sporting events like Olympics, is regarded among the major success factor for the host nations. This is evident from the history through analysis of past Olympic events. The reason behind this is that in any Olympic events maximum number of nations meet or gather in common platform i.e. host nation. Thus, along with the spectators and the participants of different nations, e government officials and representative of the participating nations also arrives at the event. These officials not only watch the event but at the same time they also encourage participants of their respective nations, which is a moment of pride altogether (Hunter, 2012). However, in course of this visit of the officials, it is also believed that political meets amid the leaders amid the nations also takes. Thus, it is of significant benefit to the host nations since the same strengthens their political relationship with other nations (Girginov, 2013). This particular aspect of political gain is also notable in the London Olympics, which further signifies the event to be a successful one. In this regard, it must be mentioned that the government officials of UK have discussed notable issues in context to global terrorism which is impacting many global nations. During the meetings, the nation had significantly argued regarding the July 7, 2005 bombings in London (Storm & Eyerman, 2006). Thus, from a political perspective London Olympics is seen as a highly imperative. Comparatively, similar political benefits were also observed in Olympics held in Sydney in the year 2000 when the nation was able to effectively resolve issues to foreign debt. The Seoul Olympics in 1988 also depicted similar sort of political outcome as the nation was able to resolve issues related to foreign policies. Thus, these scenarios of political gain are apparent in many of the Olympic events, which include the London Olympics as well (Lindsay, 2014). Economical Benefit The major factor that determines the success of an event is the economical benefit consequently results from the same. In this regard, as Olympics is a global sporting event with large number of participating nations along with significant turn out of viewers, economic benefit shall be witnessed by the hosts nation (Girginov, 2013).. The profit from these events greatly aids the host nation in terms of economic development. It significantly boosts the economy of the host nation further encouraging other nation to organize similar sort of events in order to derive national growth (Bes, 2012; Greyser & Kogan, 2013). In this context, London Olympics is by far the most profitable Olympics event in the history of the game. According to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games Limited (2013), London Olympics 2012 has earned a net profit of £52.8 million which is quite immense. This profit value of the event is extensively high as compared to that of other recent Olympic events comprising Beijing Olympics in 2008, Athens Olympics in 2004 and Sydney Olympics in 2000. This high profitability of London Olympics has greatly benefitted the host nation in terms of economical growth of the overall country (Girginov, 2013). Moreover, it is evident that the event has significantly contributed towards the improvement of the infrastructure of the nation. Besides the profit acquired from London Olympics, the nation has also derived a commendable flow of foreign cash inflow from the spectators arriving at the event. This has also contributed towards the tourism industry of UK, which subsequently lead to the growth of the overall economy of the country. These factors including better foreign cash inflow and growth of tourism industry further boosted the London Olympics as compared to other Olympic events (Bes, 2012). Comparative Analysis on the Factors of Failure of the London Olympics with Other Olympic Events Increased Inflation Rising inflation is a common phenomenon that has impacted most of Olympic events in the past two decades or so. Olympic events have global appeal and hence, spectators from different nations visit the host country to witness the grandeur of the event. This leads to the growth of the tourism industry within the host nation through foreign cash inflow. However, higher cash inflow in any particular market leads to situation of inflation, as per the economic theories (Bes, 2012). Moreover, it also leads to the increase in demand for various products due to increase in the number of people visiting in the country. The limited supply of products subsequently leads to the increase in price of products as per the demand and supply theory of economics. Thus, high inflation in the host nation is a common aftermath of major events such Olympic Games. This aftermath of high inflation in the host nation is also one of the notable consequences of the London Olympics 2012. The inflation rate of the nation had increased to 5% during the event. However, it also important to note that UK generally have inflation rate fewer than 2%. Thus, inflation rate of above 5% is extremely devastating signifying the event as a major contributor to an extent (Trading Economics, 2015). Comparatively, similar high inflation is also notable in the other Olympics events that have taken place in the recent years. It is important to note that similar to London Olympics, other Olympic events held at Sydney, Athens and Beijing have also witnessed the negative side of holding such major events in the form of higher inflation rate of above 5%. However, it is also worth mentioning that unlike other mentioned nations Greece generally has an inflation rate around 5%. Thus, Athens Olympics in 2004 can be regarded as a successful one in this context. Nevertheless, the events in China and Australia have faced similar sort of inflation that impacted the overall growth of the nation at large (Trading Economics, 2015). Carbon Emission One of the major concerned factors for nations hosting major event is with regard carbon emission from the same. This factor is considered to be significant since nations are highly environment conscious owing to the prevalence of global climate issues. High level of carbon emission, which is extensive in mega events, occurs mainly owing to the use of fire crackers during such events. It is also notable that during any mega events like the Olympics, the population of the host nation increases considerably. This leads to the increase in the consumption of people subsequently resulting in increase disposal of waste particles. This aspect also leads to the increase in the carbon emission level of the city. These negative aspects of the Olympics are also notable during the London Olympics 2012 (Lee, 2012). The host nation has witnessed a high carbon emission level than normal during the games. However, according to The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games Limited (2013), the London Olympic is by far the most greenest as compared to the other recent Olympic events. The organising committee has undertaken several measures to reduce the carbon emission level. Nevertheless despite the measures undertaken by the committee, carbon emission could not been controlled or reduced to the normal level. The Olympic events at Sydney, Athens, and Beijing also witnessed similar sort of environmental events with regard to increasing carbon emission level. Thus, comparing other host nations in the recent past, London has been able to make remarkable attempts towards reducing carbon emission further making the event a greener one to an extent (Gray, 2012). Increased Traffic One of the major aftermaths of any global sporting event that depicts its failure is in the form of increased traffic. This is also notable in the global sports event like Olympics. In this regard, the road traffic of the host city increases because of the increase in the population of the nation during the event, which subsequently leads to the increase in traffic of the entire host city (Lee, 2012). This aspect was also notable during the London Olympics 2012. The traffic within the city increased drastically, further signifying the negative impact of the event (Lindsay, 2014). However, it is also worth mentioning that London Olympics has been comparatively better than Sydney, Athens, and Beijing Olympic hosting cities in terms of the flow of traffic. This was prominently because of the effectiveness of the London Olympics organising committee and the London Corporation in managing the traffic of the nation (Girginov, 2013). Conclusion Based on the overall study, it can be depicted that London Olympics in 2012 has some factors associated with it that simply depicts the event to be a successful one.. These include the effective socio-cultural effect, high political gains and economic benefits among others. These positive factors are comparably better than that of the Olympic events held in the recent years. The study also revealed that there is certain aftermath of the event that depicts the negative side of London Olympics. These include the increased rate of inflation, high carbon emission and increased traffic within the city. However, it is also notable from the study that these negative aftermaths are comparatively better than the past Olympic events organised in the recent years. This also depicts the success of the London Olympics as an event. The success of London Olympic one way or the other encouraged Brazil to host the 2016 Olympics in a successful manner altogether. References Bes, 2012. London, the City of Angels and Olympics: Towards Greatness. Xlibris Corporation. Girginov, V., 2013. Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Volume One: Making the Games, Volume 1. Routledge. Gray, L., 2012. London 2012 Olympics: How Green Are The ‘Most Sustainable Olympics Ever?’ The Telegraph. [Online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9447915/London-2012-Olympics-How-green-are-the-most-sustainable-Olympics-ever.html [Accessed February 10, 2015]. Greyser, S. A. & Kogan, V., 2013. NBC and the 2012 London Olympics: Unexpected Success. Harvard Business School, pp. 1-20. Hunter, N., 2012. The London Olympics 2012. Raintree. Kuper, G. H. & Sterken, E., 2012. Participation and Performance at the London 2012 Olympics. University of Groningen, pp. 1-20. Lee, M., 2012. The Race for the 2012 Olympics. Random House. Lindsay, I., 2014. Living with Londons Olympics: An Ethnography. Palgrave Macmillan. Storm, K. J. & Eyerman, J., 2006. Interagency Coordination: A Case Study of the 2005 London Train Bombings. NIJ Journal, Iss. 260. pp. 8-11. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games Limited, 2013. Report and Accounts. Olympic.org, pp. 6-60. Trading Economics, 2015. United Kingdom Inflation Rate. Data. [Online] Available at: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/inflation-cpi [Accessed February 10, 2015]. Read More