Now that Beijing has won the right to host the 2008 Games, it could take a few lessons from the hosts of the last successful Olympics in Sydney.
While both Olympic cities had the advantage of strong government backing, Sydney organisers had to spend time battling for marketing dollars and setting ticket prices as high as possible to cover costs. But for the Beijing organising committee, finances will be the least of its worries.
China still has a significant construction programme ahead to build sports venues and Olympic villages, and to get the transport systems up to scratch. The big lessons to be learned from previous Games will be in the actual running of the Olympics itself. One of the keys to Sydney's success was its readiness to work closely with both the Interna-tional Organising Committee (IOC) and the 28 summer sporting federations involved in staging the Games.
During the Games, the sporting federations run the events, while the local organising committee makes sure the venues work and the athletes and spectators get to them on time. 'Sydney had a very good working relationship with the International Olympic Committee and the sporting federations,' said Austra-lia's senior IOC member Kevan Gosper, who was on the Sydney Olympic organising committee. 'The working relationship between Beijing and (IOC headquarters in) Lausanne has got to be excellent.'
Sydney organisers worked closely with world sporting bodies, and the Sydney committee's energetic sports director Bob Elphinston consulted tirelessly with international sporting officials.
Although controversy raged in Sydney over domestic issues in the lead up to the Games, there was little doubt the sports events themselves would run smoothly.
