Should Greece send teams to the summer games, with the rest of Europe bankrolling the funding of Greece?

 

-----signature-----

well lets look at that... IS it a waste? do we have any figures of a hosting country's bottom line on those games? is it always a loss?

 

-----signature-----

I imagine at this point if they have athletes on the slate for London it would be more expensive to not send them as they have already spent money on training, flights, hotel, food, etc etc...

 

-----signature-----

Although I'm sure the bankers would like to have that level of control over a sovereign nation, so that they could micromanage ever single thing they spend even one penny on....I doubt they do. Yet.

Anyway, almost every country uses corporate money to send their athletes to the games, not government funds. There are still plenty of very rich people in Greece and I'm sure some of them will be more than happy to foot the bill.

No Olympics has ever made money for the host country however, and the Athens games probably cost the country more than any other in modern times.

Athens: Greece’s track and field authority suspended all athletic operations Wednesday because of severe spending cuts – a major embarrassment for the nation that hosted the Summer Olympics only eight years ago.

The move – the latest twist in Greece’s nearly three-year financial freefall – is the first such action by any of the country’s major sports bodies. It immediately halts all domestic track and field competitions, including track meets May 12-13 in several Greek cities.

The decision will not, however, affect the May 10 flame-lighting ceremony at Ancient Olympia, in southern Greece, for the 2012 London Olympics, or have any immediate effect on the selection of Greek athletes for those games.

“The Board of Athletics Federation … unanimously decided to suspend all domestic sporting activity until decisions to make unfair and selective cuts in funding are reviewed,” a federation statement said.

The agency is expected to meet again in two weeks and could toughen its stance even further to include international meets like the European Championships if the Greek government fails to respond.


The federation “calls on the sporting leadership … to intervene and avert the economic dead-end and the disintegration of track and field,” it said.

Federation President Vassilis Sevastis said on Tuesday that deep cuts in state funding have left coaches and suppliers unpaid for up to 10 months. He said the federation was unable to cover its basic needs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/greek-debt-crisis-olympics_n_1402980.html

This is why I ask the Greeks may not be able to afford to make it.
They havent paid anybody in 10 months.

 

-----signature-----

If people are stupid enough to loan them money to float it, that's their business.

Where is the... I live in the United States and DAF about Greece option?

 

-----signature-----

We'll be in the same boat in 4 years unless we have destroyed modern civilization already thru thermonuclear war.

 

-----signature-----

Greece should be allowed to fail without global interference.

 

-----signature-----

I'm of two minds about it.

On one hand - it's Greece, and it's hard to imagine the Olympics without them.

On the other hand - The rest of Europe would be funding them going to the Olympics.

 

-----signature-----