Not to take anything away from the athletes but this was sold as an economic shot in the arm wasn't it? "The research arm of Citi has just completed its assessment of what the 2012 Olympics contributed to the UK economy. In a nutshell, the Report illustrates with the use of several convincing graphs, that the Olympics was great news for British athletes, but economically pointless….and probably, in the end, likely to be consigned to history as a cost centre. In simple terms, the event cost 0.7% of GDP, and produced an economic boost of 0.2%. While there was a positive effect on local employment levels, post-event figures suggest very strongly that these weren't permanent….and even ignoring that reality, the employment uplift vs non-Olympic boroughs was, um, 0.3%.†So might have got a better result by not actually having the Olympics.