Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

What did you know about Barcelona before coming here?

City Branding

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

What did you know about Barcelona before coming here?

City Branding

What other destinations were you considering? Why Barcelona?

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

What do you think when you think of Barcelona?

City Branding

The best branded cities in the world

The International Ranking of Sports Cities 2013

Position City Country

1 London UK

2 Barcelona Spain

3 Sydney Australia

4 Melbourne Australia

5 Beijing China

6 Vancouver Canada

7 Paris France

8 Tokyo Japan

9 New York USA

10 Cape Town South Africa

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

• In 1992 Barcelona held the Summer Olympic Games, the first time in the history of Spain.

• A total of 61.5% of Olympic funding was allocated for building work. This illustrates a key feature of Barcelona’92: its structuring effect on the city. The deepest impacts of the Olympic investments are in the long-term.

Summer Olympics 1992

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

• Barcelona was not a very popular tourist destination before the Olympics. In 1990 the city received 1.7 million tourists. In 2014, 7.37 million.

Summer Olympics 1992

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

Aftermath

• Many cities bankrupt after holding international sporting events and never get back their initial investment.

• Sporting facilities go to waste and several times repurposing them is impossible.

Athens Summer Olympics 2004 – Swimming facilities

Athens Summer Olympics 2004 – Softball stadium

Sarajevo Winter Olympics 1984 –Ski jumps

Sarajevo Winter Olympics 1984 –Ski jumps

Sarajevo Winter Olympics 1984 –Bobsled run

Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 - Kayaking

Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 – Before and after

Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 – Before and after

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

• Medal table

Summer Olympics 1992

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

• In October 1991 Magic Johnson retired from the league because he was infected with HIV.

• Causes and consequences of the disease were very much unknown at that time. Rivals and teammates were afraid of playing with Magic.

• In 1992 he made a comeback to play the Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Summer Olympics 1992

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

• One of the most exciting moments of the Olympics were brought by the USA basketball ‘dream team’.

• Basketball until 1992 was played by non-professionals. In 1988 in Seoul USA finished in the third place playing with college students.

• Sports Illustrated:‘arguably the most dominant squad ever assembled in any sport’.

Summer Olympics 1992

Barcelona’s Olympic legacy

The songs of Barcelona 1992:

• ‘Barcelona’. Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé.

• ‘Amigos para siempre’ Sarah Brightman & Jose Carreras

Summer Olympics 1992