Citius, Altius, Fortius (part 2)

Citius, Altius, Fortius (part 2) ~ Modern Olympic Games

The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger". The motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin on the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. De Coubertin borrowed it from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who, amongst other things, was an athletics enthusiast. The motto was installed in 1896 at the first modern Olympic Games.

An more informal well known motto, also introduced by De Coubertin, is "The most important thing is not to win but to take part!". De Coubertin got this motto from a sermon by the Bishop of Pennsylvania, during the 1908 London Games.

From the 241 participants from 14 nations in 1896, the Games grew to nearly 11,100 competitors from 202 countries at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The number of competitors at the Winter Olympics is much smaller than at the Summer Games; at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy, 2,633 athletes from 80 countries competed in 84 events.

The bid to host the Olympics has become increasingly competitive in recent years. Today, the Olympics is more than a mere sporting event. It also serves as a grand international gathering.There are 203 countries currently participating in the Olympics.

As for non-for-public information, it is interesting to know that:

* Financial disaster used to be a recurring theme throughout the Olympics Games' history. The 1972 Munich Games suffered a loss of nearly 700 million Deutschmark, while the 1976 Montreal Games was struck by a loss of almost $1 billion.

* The 1980 Moscow Games were said to suffer a similar huge loss, although no detailed statistics were provided (As for Russian gossips Olympics 1980 gained a high profit but became an a 'reward' to the Organizers and the Government).

Though over the past two decades, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch has overseen the financing of the Olympic Movement, the tremendous growth of the marketing agenda that supports the Olympic Games, and the development of sport worldwide.

Here are some interesting facts to compare:

Marketing:

In 1980: No international marketing programme existed. Fewer than 10 NOCs generated any revenue from marketing programmes.

In 2000: Long-term broadcast agreements through 2008 have secured the financial future of the Olympic Movement. National and international marketing sponsorship programmes were established to support present and future Olympic Games. All 199 NOCs benefit from marketing revenue, with the IOC distributing US$215 million to NOCs over the period 1997 – 2000 (excluding payment to the USOC and the Host Country NOCs).

Hosting The Games:

In 1980: Financial risk and uncertainty due to the limited number of bidding cities. Only one city bid for 1984 Olympiad, and only two cities bid for 1988 Olympiad.

In 2000: Global marketing eliminates financial risk and uncertainty for host cities. Ten cities applied to host the 2008 Olympic Games, with the IOC providing more than 60% of budget via pre-agreed long-term contracts.

Funding:

In 1980: Olympic Solidarity received US$8 million in funding over the period 1980-1984. International Federations received US$8 million in funding. (For Moscow alone, IFs received US$5.6 million.)

In 2000: The IOC provided close to US$1,100 million to SOCOG. Olympic Solidarity received more than US$121 million in funding for the period 1997 – 2000, rising up to US$210 million for 2001 –2004. The International Federations received US$190 million in funding for Sydney alone, and a total of US$255 million for the 1997 – 2000 quadrennium.

Television:

In 1980: The Games were televised in fewer than 120 countries.

In 2000: The Olympic Games are televised to the whole world, 220 countries, free of charge.

Increased revenue since 1980 has allowed the Olympic Games to grow with more athletes and more nations participating in the world’s premier event.

Olympic Games: 1980 – 2000







With the improvement of satellite communications and global telecasts of the events, the Olympics are consistently gaining more and more supporters. The current Summer Games in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 prove that fact by the budgets established and the amount of investors attracted. WInter Sochi 2014 Games are still under planning.

Beijing 2008 - $8.9bn. $6.9bn for construction and site preparation, $2bn for the actual running.

Scale for the 2008 Games: 28 Olympic sports in 37 venues; 10,708 athletes and 4,000 Paralympic athletes; 5,600 accredited written press & photographers; 70,000 Olympic Games Volunteers.

London 2012 - £9.3bn for construction, transport improvements and regeneration of the area in east London; £2bn for the actual running of the Games.

Scale for the 2012 Games: 26 Olympic sports in 31 venues; 20 Paralympic sports in 21 venues; 10,250 Olympic athletes and 4,000 Paralympic athletes; 20,000 press and media; over 9 million tickets.

What interesting to compare also is the amount of companies signed up to support Summer Olympics in London, for example, and Sochi... Sochi bid was just received but there are already about 10 Corporate Sponsors on the local level. In London after 3 years of preparation - 5. The price to become a Sponsor is around £80 mln. in the UK.... If it is the same for Sochi, then not bad at all ;)

Thought over Moscow Olympics in 1980 and the feeling Russians are still keeping in their hearts ... It was unbelivable!!! I wish I could see it with my own eyes...I wish will be able to attend Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi!!!



Sochi 2014 promotional video
Sochi 2014 hymn
London 2012 promotional video
Beijing 2008 promotional video