By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek
August 17, 2012
By nearly all metrics, the London Olympics have been deemed a massive success. IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge called the Games “absolutely fantastic” and said that they “refreshed the Olympics movement.” Domestically, NBC posted its best Olympic audience since the Atlanta Games in 1996.
Looking ahead, Sochi and Rio have issues to overcome before hosting the Games in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Sochi has to build all of its competition venues during an economic crisis, while Rio doesn’t have a budget and is progressing slower than the IOC would like.
There’s no objective way to rank an Olympics as the best ever, but with the unanimous praise coming from London, this summer’s games have to be close to the top. The pressure is on for Sochi and Rio, which have an incredibly difficult act to follow.
