It left the Canadian city with a debt of $1.5 billion (Sh156 billion) that took up to 30 years to pay off. The profitability of the Los Angeles Olympics spurred more cities to bid for the Olympics from 1988. It is estimated that the Beijing Olympics of 2008 cost $45 billion (Sh4.7 trillion) while the Rio Olympics of 2016 cost $20 billion (Sh2.1 trillion). Previous records indicate that approximately $1.5 billion (Sh157 billion) was used in the provision of security in the 2004 Athens Olympics. The true cost of the pandemic on sports and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics may be hard to calculate as at now.

Source: Daily Nation March 30, 2020 02:15 UTC