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Winter Olympics get torched by battered economy

By EDDIE PELLS | The Associated Press • Published February 07, 2009

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Here’s another big business that needs a bailout: the Olympics.

With a year to go before the start of the Winter Games in Vancouver, much of the focus is on making ends meet.

The organizing committee has dipped into its contingency fund to the tune of $40 million to cover rising costs because of the slowing economy. The city just approved a new budget that will allow it to borrow $350 million or more to take over building of the athletes’ village after the original lender stopped payment.

The Vancouver Games, which begin Feb. 12, 2010, have an operating budget of $1.63 billion — a $104 million increase over the original budget that was developed about two years ago.

Yet those in the Olympic movement say that’s still an acceptable amount to pay for the world’s biggest sports extravaganza, even in rough financial times.

“There’s no shortage of cities willing to put forth the energy and effort and economic considerations to host the Summer or Winter Games,” said Jim Scherr, CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee, which wants to bring the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago at the cost of $4.7 billion. “From that perspective, things are robust, the movement is being served.”

Still, the sour economy impacts more than just the municipalities trying to put on a good show. It trickles down to individual athletes, especially those who compete in less-popular sports.

Apolo Anton Ohno, winner of five medals over the last two Olympics and hoping to close out his career in Vancouver, said speedskating is doing fine in the lead-up to the games. But because the sport doesn’t have a huge membership, or big TV revenues, funding threatens to go downhill quickly after the games.

“The current state of the global recession has taken its toll on funds for post-2010,” he said. “That’s where it’ll be kind of scary to see what’s set up. Usually, there’s a lot of reserve in the bank. It will be interesting to see how they’ll be able to swim through the uphill stream this time.”