download - IOA

Under normal conditions or 15,000 under Olympic conditions (Weirick
1999: 79. Another 2,000 medium density units got constructed in Pyrmont/Ultimo
to accommodate media personnel (Cox et al. 1994: 63). Additions to the
Sydney tourist accommodation supply were estimated at 6,634 room, which
is an increase of 9.5% (BTF 2001: 55-56). In general the "Olympic Corridor"
defined as the area from the city and Pyrmont to Sydney Olympic Park in
Homebush got gentrified and further developed. In other words, the structural
changes supported the welfare of higher classes while lower ones benefited
only indirectly, e.g. through job opportunities in construction or the tourism
industry. Australia achieved celebrity status, national pride skyrocketed and
the country entered the new Millennium with a renewed confidence (Morse,
2001). To also assess these welfare effects, the increase in utility of Australians
from elevated national pride through their Olympics would have to be investigated.
The fact that Australia is located on the other side of the world and
might be overlooked makes Australians particularly interested in demonstrating
their efficiency and power. Part of the Australian psyche is about winning
in sports. Australia earned more medals per million population than any
other nation (Ruthven 2000: 17). To do so Australians had to overcome many
obstacles.
Competing out of season, being placed far away from other nations and therefore
having heavy costs for international travel resulted in a lack of international competitions
(Farrell 1999: 68). Since 1980, the government has given sports much
more support. However, the winning of the bid in 1993 gave another impact,
which increased the number of international competitions for Australians. On the
one hand, almost every Olympic sport was tested internationally from September
1999 to March 2000, which included seven World Cups (SOCOG 2000: 75). On
the other hand, the facilities and knowledge will enable Sydney and Australia
to stage big sport events in the future such as the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane,
2002 Gay Games in Sydney and 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Furthermore, the Olympic Games provided US$ 113m for future Australian sports
programs (IOC 5/2000: 10).
The 2000 Olympic Games brought many challenges associated with
the introduction of technologies such as optical fibre, compressed
digital video, interactive media, digital television or HDTV to Australia,
which created opportunities for industry development (PCA 1995: 24).
The Games provided significant learning opportunities (e.g. technological
knowledge or language skills) that led to increase technological
progression, and hence economic growth. Students in Sydney were also
trained as "Commentary Systems Operators" and technology specialists
(Cahill 2000).
Knowledge about the Olympic Idea and Olympic Movement increases
every time Olympic Games are celebrated. Olympic education was evident
in many Australian school programs, which were fostered by the AOC in
104