Dispelling Myths: The Athens Olympics did not bankrupt Greece

The 2004 Athens Olympics have often been cited as a cause for leaving Greece broke, pushing into a gruelling decade-long recession. But in a recent interview, the country’s Olympics organiser Gianna Angelopoulou-Daskalak debunked the myth, as she put it, saying the county only profited from the Games.

With a budget of 2.098 billion euros, Ms. Angelopoulou told an interview with Greece's national broadcaster, that Athens Olympics generated a surplus of 130 million euros pocketed by the state.

The state’s contribution, she explained, was merely 7 percent of the Games’ total budget, the rest, funded through ticket sales, sponsorships, broadcasting rights, and contributions from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At 6.4 billion euros, Ms. Angelopoulou said, the Athens Games ranked among the skimpiest Games since the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. She said the Olympics boosted the Greek economy by 2.5 percent leaving a priceless legacy for the country.

The Games, she said, bore testament to Greece’s capabilities and a symbol of national pride, not the cause of the country’s economic difficulties.

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