Olympics: Athens games end in the black

GREECE - The 2004 Athens Olympics may have been the most expensive Games in history, costing more than nine billion euros ($16.05 billion), but the organising committee said today it had managed to post a profit of more than 130 million.

With a budget of about 1.9 billion euros to stage the Games, it said it had produced revenues of 2.09 billion due to increased profits from television rights, sponsors and ticket sales.

"We have succeeded in not only meeting the balanced budget (1.96 billion euros) but securing a surplus of over 130.6 million euros," it said in a statement.

The committee was not responsible for the construction of any sports complexes, access roads or the athletes' Olympic village, nor did it foot the one-billion-euro Games security bill.

The committee said 123 million euros from the profits had already been spent on a series of projects ahead of the Games, as agreed with the government, in a bid to speed up preparations.

The government and the committee repeatedly clashed before the Games over delays and areas of responsibility. Construction work was completed only days before the start of the Games.

The committee said it would post a final profit of about seven million euros in its balance sheet, to be published soon.

The overall cost of the Games severely burdened Greece's public finances and was a major factor as the country's budget deficit ballooned to over six per cent of GDP in 2004.

- REUTERS