All the medals have been get ahead , all thepuppies demand home . The Winter Games are over . But the end of the Olympics is just the kickoff of the story for Sochi , which now has the unenviable undertaking of putting itself back on track after three year of rush evolution .
Russia expend $ 51 billion on these game — a record - breakage sum that outflank the last Winter Games server , Vancouver , by more than $ 40 billion . There were the venues , the road , the hotels , the roads — the amount of investment was unbelievable . But was it worth it ? Russia hopes so . The idea is that Sochi will become a tourism attractive feature thanks to its newfound notoriety . But given that the metropolis is in a relatively remote emplacement , it seems unbelievable that hoards of holidaymaker will settle upon it simply to see the locus . Some of the venues — like Fisht Stadium — were designed to be downsize into smaller , more useable space . Others were not .
Only time will severalize if Sochi will emerge as a bustling touristry hub . But how have other recent master of ceremonies cities make out ? We took a look below .
London
AP Photo / Lefteris Pitarakis .
London is actuallystill in the arduous processof converting its Olympic Village into a mixed - use development , which will eventually let in everything from two schools to 22 international nautical mile of pathway — as well as 8,000 new homes and a bustling shopping shopping center . The former Olympic bowl , which baby-sit 80,000 people , was downsized to seat 60,000 as a football game stadium for West Ham .
terminal count : In the end , London spent $ 10.4 billion on the games , but reported ( PDF ) a profit of $ 87 million in March of 2013 . Which is minor — but better than losing hard currency , nonetheless .
Beijing
Photo by Feng Li / Getty Images .
Beijing ’s had a intemperate fourth dimension reintegrate its straggle Olympian park with the rest of the city . NPR reports that many of the former Olympic venues sitempty and abandonedtoday — though one noteworthy undimmed spot is the aquatic Water Cube , which was convert into the Happy Magic Water Park after the games :
Final tally : Beijing spent $ 44 billion on the Games , butreporteda $ 146 million gain in 2009 .
Turin
Turin ’s Isozaki Palaolimpico building in 2007 . AP Photo / Massimo Pinca .
Though Turin , like Sochi , was a lesser - known city before it hosted the Winter Olympics , it ’s boomed in the time since — touristry has increased and the former venues are reportedly still in exercise .
last tally : Despite that , Turin was still over budget by more than $ 3 billion , with a loss of $ 3.2 million .
Athens
AP Photo / Thanassis Stavrakis
Athens map the outstanding fear of other host metropolis . The metropolis went almost $ 10 billion over its budget for the Games — and that was in 2003!—and just about all of its Olympic venue dwell idle today , a blight on a struggling urban center .
Final enumeration : Athens fall $ 14 billion in debt from the games — and some economistseven suggestthat the massive cost overruns set off the fiscal crisis that Greece is still dealing with today .
So , financially speaking , it ’s a mixed purse . loss have increase over the past two decades — and even when urban center have break out even or profited , question about the urban bequest of these sprawling locale have lingered .
Lead simulacrum : AP Photo / Matt Slocum .
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