Youth Olympics Tripled Singapore Budget
The Singapore government has confessed to underestimating the operating costs at last month’s inaugural Youth Olympics, but insisted the benefits it reaped were worth the expenditure.??
The organising committee allocated £49m to the Games but the budget rocketed up to as much as three times that amount.
Minister for community development, youth and sports Vivian Balakrishnan admitted: ‘We were plain wrong, we underestimated the requirements and the consequential cost for several major functional areas in hosting the Games.’??
Upgrading of sports venues and equipment, putting on the opening and closing ceremonies and providing live broadcast of the Games also pushed the budget past initial estimates, Balakrishnan said.
??However, Balakrishnan pointed out that Singapore’s economy had received a boost during the Games, which had also developed the city-state’s sporting culture and put it in the history books.??
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge hailed the Games as exceeding all expectations.??
The Games was the first ever to be held and already the IOC has revealed that up to 17 countries have expressed an interest in hosting the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games.
