Tapping into the Olympic dream

Englishman Mick Aitken helped lay the foundations for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Back in 1985 he was heavily involved in establishing Events Corp in Australia the first of Australia's world-renowned government-owned events agencies that helped pave the way for the bid.

He later became the executive manager for the successful British Olympic and Paralympic preparation camps in Queens-land.

Now Mick is coming to Swindon on Wednesday to drum support for the London 2012 Olympic Bid and explain the benefits.

He said: "The Olympics isn't just the greatest sports show on Earth, but one of the greatest showcases for businesses too.

"The unprecedented profile and exposure gained for Australian business acumen and expertise at the Sydney Olympic games has catapulted our goods and services into the global goods and services premier league.

"NowAustralia expects to secure £1.25 billion of the estimated £12 billion being ploughed into the 2008 Beijing games.

"That's equivalent to the entire cost of hosting the games in Sydney."

Mick now runs his own international sports business consultancy in Queensland but has kept strong links with Britain.

He has been involved in preparing events strategies for Scotland and north west England and acts as a world class adviser to UK Sport on major events in this country such as the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Athletics Cham-pionships.

At the moment he is working with several organisations around the country to spread the word on how they can best take advantage of opportunities that will arise if London is successful in the 2012 bid.

Mick will be speaking to businesses at the De Vere Hotel in Shaw Ridge on Wednesday at a breakfast meeting organised by Swindon Chamber of Commerce, the Swindon Initiative and the South West of England Regional Development Agency.

Swindon Chamber chief executive Dennis Grant said: "A successful 2012 bid offers real benefits for the South West region's sport, tourism and business communities not just in 2012 but also before and after the Games.

"We are delighted to support this seminar in order to raise awareness about the opportunities for all sectors to benefit and we look forward to seeing you there."

The RDA's chairman Juliet Williams said: "This is a great opportunity for business people to hear about the real potential of the Olympics from a man who knows from first-hand experience what he's talking about."

The meeting is at the De Vere starting at 8.30am for light breakfast for the 9am presentation.

To book a place email steph.trinci@swindonchamber. co.uk

BARCELONA

Barcelona's international profile has rocketed since holding the Games in 1992:

It moved from 16th in the short break destination league table before the Games to third place, with two million tourists.

The city repositioned itself on the world stage after the Games with an increase in convention business of 129 per cent.

Unemployment was 18 per cent in 1986 and nine per cent in 1992.

The city underwent major regeneration

SYDNEY

The Games saw $A500m (£205m) in sales for companies in New South Wales

Sydney welcomed an extra 110,000 visitors for the Games, and an extra 1.6 million visitors overall

Some experts believe it made the equivalent of A$6.1bn (£2.4bn) in brand awareness

It was estimated by the International Olympic Committee that nine out of ten people in the world watched the Games

ATHENS

The Greek finance minister said that the cost of hosting last year's games was nine billion euros (about £6bn). The original budget had ben 4.6 billion euros. But George Alogoskoufis, while admitting that the figure did not include trams, trains and other infrastructure, said the games had been well worth it.