Anthony Hughes

School of History

University of New South Wales , Australia

Thesis: The Olympic Games and the Education Sector: A Case Study of the University of New South and the Sydney 2000 Olympics

Beatriz. Gracia

Director, Impacts 08 - The Liverpool Model

University of Liverpool ,

Liverpool , UK .

Thesis: Cultural programming at the Olympic City

Brenda Metropolit

Acting Director,

Sustainablility Office, Environment Canada

Dean Baim

Professor of Economics and Finance

Pepperdine University

California , USA

Thesis: The Development of Olympic Driven Urban Development

Summary:

   In 1896 the first Olympic Games of the modern era were held in Athens , Greece . Of the 311 athletes who competed, 230 were Greek nationals. In the 110 years since then the Olympic Games have evolved from a mostly national sporting event to an international sport spectacular that is watched by billions of people. When the Olympics returned to Athens in 2004 11,099 athletes from 202 countries competed. As the popularity and magnitude of the Olympics have grown so has the interest in cities wishing to use the Olympics as a means to a changed urban environment and to raise global awareness of the city as a site for tourism and commerce.

Before analyzing how the Olympic Games have been used over the years to alter the urban setting it is useful to categorize the areas of urban development are typically affected by the Olympics in the most recent games. This paper then observes how the Games have evolved over time to include an increasing number of these areas of urban development.

This paper analyzes only the impact of the Summer Games. This is for two reasons. One is that the Summer Games are a much larger endeavor than the Winter Games, and as such have a greater opportunity to affect urban development. Second, the Winter Games are a newer series of games and as such do not have the history that the Summer Games do.

Evangelia Kasimati

Phd. from Department of Economics and International Development,

University of Bath

Claverton Down, Bath , UK .

Thesis: Economic Development of Greece : Staging the 2004 Summer Olympic Games

Summary:

    The second anniversary of the 2004 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games is an appropriate time to commence an assessment of the success of the Games, their impact on Athens and Greece, and the benefits they delivered to the people of this country. The organization of the Games is a major challenge for any country, notwithstanding such a small nation as Greece . The Games were Greece 's largest ever-logistical operation to date. Through this study, our aim is to identify and collate evidence regarding the business and economic activities flowing from the conduct of the Athens Games in advance of that evidence being either lost or diluted through the passage of time. A range of issues is examined, such as infrastructure, transport, security, environment, tourism, marketing and sponsorship and their likely impacts - tangible and intangible- on the economy and society are evaluated. When appropriate, our work offers comparative terms with other recent or forthcoming Olympics. Given the broad range of objectives, we believe that the 2004 Summer Olympic Games served as a catalyst toward the modern prospects of the Greek economy, enhancing the ground that the Olympic Games can become a great tool for improving the economy, increasing the standard of living, and strengthening culture and environmental quality.

Graham Brown

Professor of Tourism Management,

School of Management ,

University of South Australia , Australia

Thesis: The Olympics and the re-positioning of host cities.

Summary:

    It is proposed in this paper that staging the Olympic Games will lead to the re-positioning of the host city. As a marketing term, positioning concerns the place a product occupies in consumers' minds (Kotler et. al., 2003) and it is the result of a complex set of perceptions, impressions and feelings which consumers have for a product compared with competing products. Repositioning can be used to achieve differentiation and a competitive edge (Ahmed, 1991). In tourism, image is considered to be a fundamental element of destination position (Goodrich, 1978; Haahti, 1986; Gartner, 1989) and destination branding. Branding is about establishing favourable associations ( Henderson , 2000) and is considered to be one of the most powerful strategies for market positioning (Crawford-Welch, 1998). Destination branding has been defined as “selecting a consistent element mix to identify and distinguish it through positive image building” (Cai, 2002: 721) with the brand name serving as the foremost reference point. In recent years, there has been fierce international competition to attain the title of Olympic city.

Dr.Iain MacRury

Principal Lecturer,

Co-Director London East Research Institute

School of Social Sciences Media and Cultural Studies

University of East London , UK

Focus on: Cultural Studies and Creative Industries.

Thesis: The Olympics and Branding: London 2012, commerce

culture and regeneration

Nellie Cheng

Project Manager, 2010 Winter Olympics

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Thesis: Working toward a Sustainable 2010 Vancouver Olympics

Roy Panagiotopoulor

Professor from Department of Communication and Media Studies

University of Athens , Greece

Thesis: Citizen Participation in the Olympic Games

Dr. Theresa Jen

Professor and Director

University of Pennsylvania , The Wharton School , US

Thesis: Branding the City: Harmony of Olympics and Beijing

Ching-Kuo WU

Chairman of the Olympism Society

Chairman of Taipei Olympic Organization Committee

Coordination for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008

Ung CHANG

Member of IOC

Chairman of International Taekwon-do Federation