It seems that the Beijing Olympic Games four years ago is still in sight. Now, the stage has turned to London. What kind of Olympic passion will be staged there? How many storms will the Sino-US gold medal war set off? How many legends will Liu Xiang, Sun Yang, Li Na and other "dragons" and "China Phoenix" continue to write?

Historically, the British have twice "stepped forward" in the face of crisis in the modern Olympic Games. Nowadays, the British economy, which is faltering under the background of the European debt crisis, is eagerly looking forward to the "feedback" of the Olympic Games. On July 27th, can the London Olympic Games, with the slogan of "influencing a generation", bring a bright future to the miserable world economy?

Let's approach Britain and the Olympics.

What does London mean by "influencing a generation"?

For the British, holding hands with the Olympics again is no longer to satisfy their Olympic complex, nor is it disdainful to establish the image and national prestige of "the sun never sets on the empire". They hope to realize the ambition of returning humanity, economy and sports to the center of the world through the Olympic Games.

Following the 4th Olympic Games in 1908 and the 4th Olympic Games in 1948, the 30th Olympic Games came to ancient London for the third time in 20 12. Now, the whole world is looking forward to the London Olympic Games. People are curious about what the Olympic Games will be wonderful, and what the slogan of the London Olympic Games-"influence a generation"-means.

Get out of the predicament and turn passivity into initiative

On June 5th, the 50th countdown day of the London Olympic Games, sebastian coe, President of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, announced to the world that London was ready and would greet this grand event with confidence.

Different from the previous Olympic Games, the London Olympic Games, with a total budget of only 9.3 billion pounds, faced the dilemma of insufficient funds from the beginning, and even faced the crisis of suspension for a time. However, the clever Englishman did not flinch, but rose up in adversity and broke through the predicament. London turned passivity into initiative, which turned the crisis around. For this, Britain and London won praise.

Two years ago, the European sovereign debt crisis, which originated in Greece, began to evolve from a single country to the whole eurozone crisis, and then developed into a "debt storm" that restricted and affected the economic recovery in Europe and even the world. In the second half of last year, the European debt crisis spread to France, Germany and other core countries in the euro zone, which seriously hindered the pace of European economic recovery.

Britain did not use the euro, and the impact of the European debt crisis was not as great as that of Germany and France, but the storm still brought great difficulties to Britain in preparing for the Olympic Games. High consumption and high welfare are "long-term problems", which leads to the difficulty of British economy. Influenced by the long-term low birth rate, prolonged life expectancy and the large-scale aging of baby boomers after World War II, the social burden of most European countries has become heavier and heavier since the end of the 20th century. However, even with economic depression and social pressure, most people in Europe are unwilling to change the pattern of high consumption and high welfare. Regardless of their own financial situation and economic strength, individual EU member governments blindly pursue the same high welfare as developed countries. Among them, less developed Greece and Ireland are more prominent. In 20 10, the proportion of social welfare expenditure to GDP in Greece was 20.6%, and the proportion of social welfare to total government expenditure was as high as 4 1.6%.

The crisis has made it impossible for the developers of the two major infrastructure projects of the London Olympic Games-the Olympic Village with a budget of 654.38 billion pounds and the media center with a budget of 400 million pounds-to put the funds in place for a long time. In order to save money, London even canceled the construction plans of four stadiums and moved the events to existing venues. In fact, IOC President jacques rogge is well aware of the financial problems facing London. He said: "I know that after Beijing's success, we have entered a period of economic difficulties. But before the Olympic Games, we had successfully overcome the difficulties. The history of the Olympic Games tells us that we can overcome temporary difficulties as long as we make up our minds and work hard. "

Previously, London had hosted two Olympic Games, namely, the early days of the modern Olympic Games (1908) and the end of World War II (1948). After more than 60 years, it won the right to host 20 12 again, making London the first city to host the Olympic Games for three times. But it's also accidental. The first two Olympic Games were held in London. 1908 The Olympic Games should have been held in Rome. At that time, Mount Vesuvius in Italy suddenly erupted, causing great disasters. The Italian government had no time to take care of the Olympic Games, so the International Olympic Committee awarded the right to host the Olympic Games to London. 1948 Olympic Games is after the Second World War, and all countries are in a hurry to restore and rebuild. The British Olympic Committee applied to the International Olympic Committee for hosting the 14 Olympic Games in June, 1945, and the only bidding city was London, so Britain easily won the right to host the Olympic Games. London once again became the "savior" of the Olympic Games. 1948 The organizers of the Olympic Games are short of money, and even the athletes have to limit their meals. But admirably, the British government at that time did not pretend to be fat, but tried every means with only one purpose: to run the Olympic Games as well as possible under the existing conditions.

The British never imagined that more than half a century later, when they enjoyed the glory of hosting the Olympic Games for the third time, they faced an unexpected financial crisis! According to industry experts, the British government initially estimated that about 700 million pounds of private funds would be injected into the Olympic Games and reconstruction projects around Stratford in east London. However, after the Beijing Olympic Games, global banks stopped lending, developers were short of funds, and taxpayers would have to intervene passively. Providing 6.5438+0.7 million athletes, officials and referees to stay in the Olympic Village is expected to cost 65.438+0 billion pounds, which once became the biggest headache. Developers hope to sell some buildings after the Olympic Games to recover some investment. BOCOG, which is responsible for the infrastructure construction of the 20 12 London Olympic Games, plans to invest 500 million pounds to build the Olympic Village and Media Center, and the rest will be financed by private enterprises.

Faced with a series of difficulties and obstacles, the British did not flinch, but made a series of measures to strengthen their determination-to hold a "thrifty" but "profitable" Olympic Games.

Since 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, "profit" has become one of the important reasons for countries to bid for the Olympic Games, and Britain is no exception. When they bid, they used the Olympic Games as a reason to improve the economy. Affected by the financial crisis, the British economy will experience negative growth in the first half of 20 12, and the number of unemployed will rise to 2.85 million. The British government hopes to revitalize the economy through the Olympic Games. British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered an additional 465.438 billion pounds for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games. Faced with public complaints and opposition, British Sports Minister Hugh Robertson responded: "The reason why we want to invest another 4,654,380,000 pounds is not to catch up with the Beijing Olympic Games, but to hope that British people will want to travel here after they leave, so as to maximize our economic and tourism benefits."

It is difficult for everyone to be happy when hosting the Olympic Games under the financial crisis, but the goal of hosting a sustainable Olympic Games with the highest return on investment in Britain has never wavered. A few days ago, Prime Minister David Cameron confidently stated that during the Olympic Games, it may increase Britain's income by 654.38 billion pounds, and the task of the British government is to turn potential business opportunities into reality. Tourism is the fifth largest industry in Britain, and the government plans to introduce measures such as increasing legal holidays during the Olympic Games to promote the profitability of tourism. In order to get the British retail industry out of the current predicament, the British government relaxed the rules of opening shops on Sundays during the London Olympic Games. According to the current law, large shopping malls in England can only open for six hours on Sundays, and from July 22nd, shopping malls will be able to extend their business hours on eight Sundays during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is estimated that this alone can bring 9000 pounds of income to the enterprise.

In addition, the British government also wants to use hosting the Olympic Games to open up markets for British enterprises, with emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises. Collins, managing director of the Olympic Heritage Department of the British Investment and Trade Agency, revealed to the media that there are two main ways for them to promote the economy through the Olympics. One is the "British Business Club", which is an online business information platform that any enterprise can join for free and can still use after the Olympic Games. The other is to use Lancaster Tower, a prosperous part of London, as Britain's "commercial embassy" during the Olympic Games. Business people from all over the world have been taking part in the Olympic Games to promote British enterprises. It is reported that Lancaster Tower will also hold "China Business Day" during the Olympic Games. Collins also revealed that when the British government builds a business platform for enterprises, it follows the principle of doing big things with small money. For example, by winning the sponsorship and cooperation of the private sector, all enterprises registered in the British Enterprise Club can use a high-level activity venue in central London for free during the Olympic Games, which provides great convenience for small and medium-sized enterprises affected by the financial crisis.

Of course, how much the British government can achieve is still unknown, but as sebastian coe said, "The Olympic Games is not just a 17-day event. When we bid, we promised to transform the East District, and now it has been developed and transformed 120 hectares. " Regarding whether hosting the London Olympic Games will lose money, Luo Beide, director of the Business Support and Promotion Department of the London Development Agency, said: "We can't simply measure London, the world's commercial capital and the world's financial service capital, through the revitalization of the Olympic Games."

Sebastian and Roebede actually sent us the same message: the far-reaching purpose of hosting the Olympic Games in Britain is to return to the world economic center, and its ambition is impressive. However, the British government will not let go of its immediate interests. Tickets for the London Olympics have been sold out, and tickets for the opening ceremony have been fired to 9,000 pounds. The income from Olympic tickets alone has reached a quarter of the budget of the London Olympic Games. The Olympic Games haven't started yet, but this event is likely to be a booster for the British economy.

Rebuilding the image of a powerful country with the help of the Olympic Games

From the end of 18 to the beginning of 19, Britain launched the industrial revolution. There are many scientific discoveries and inventions in Britain, such as steam engines, jet engines, penicillin, deoxyribonucleic acid and so on. In the past 200 years, world-class colleges and universities have also developed in Britain. Oxford University and Cambridge University have a longer history, which can be traced back to12nd century. The British Empire used to be the most powerful country in the world, but after two world wars, the British Empire has lost its former glory.

Even so, Britain is still an important world power today, and its GDP has been in the top five in the world for several years. As the largest financial center in Europe, London's financial market has attracted many companies from all over the world to take advantage of business opportunities in Britain. Due to the devaluation of the pound and the financial crisis in recent years, Britain's GNP once fell out of the top five and was surpassed by France. This makes the British people with high self-esteem very unhappy. Therefore, with the help of the east wind of the Olympic Games, the British government urgently needs to enhance the image of a world power in all aspects. In addition to revitalizing the economy, Britain has also put forward a slogan to "influence a generation" from politics, humanities, sports and even diet.

The origin of the modern Olympic Games is Greece, but when it comes to the birthplace of modern sports, Britain is the real boss. Britain is the originator of modern football and the birthplace of many small ball games: tennis, golf, table tennis, badminton, billiards, hockey, baseball, rugby, cricket, polo, etc ... However, what makes some arrogant British people blush is that although Britain has a glorious history in many sports and is the originator of many modern sports, compared with other sports powers and countries in the world, In addition, it is an indisputable fact that Britain is marginalized in some cultural fields. When many people in the world talk about Hollywood blockbusters, Japanese anime and Korean dramas, how many people are interested in the Beatles and Shakespeare is not optimistic. Faced with the harsh reality, the British abandoned their arrogance and prejudice, hoping to convey British humanistic values to all parts of the world by hosting the Olympic Games again. According to British media reports, the British government formulated a strategic document for the London Olympic Games at the beginning of its bid, which evaluated the role of hosting the Olympic Games in enhancing Britain's image and national self-confidence.

The Olympic slogan "Influence a Generation" also reflects the British government's desire to promote "national reunification". Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown once gave a speech to defend national unity, and at that time, the leader of the British Conservative Party, the current Prime Minister David Cameron, also issued the voice that "being together is stronger than being apart". Although England is a frequent visitor to international competitions, it only represents England and England is only a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Playing in the name of Britain through the joint team means that a United and powerful Britain appears in front of the world. The unified political stance behind the Olympic Games and the football match shows the image of Britain as a world power. It is undeniable that every host is expecting a good result. Britain, which plays at home, undoubtedly hopes to take this opportunity to return to the position of a world sports power. But the gold medals in cycling, kayaking and sailing are not convincing. As a team sport, football is more important, and London hopes to find the feeling of being the boss of football in the past. However, in the past ten years, England's performance in international competitions has been lackluster. If you play football as a "British United", you can integrate the strongest football resources in Britain, such as Fletcher, Bell and Ramsey. Once you win the football gold medal at home, it will have twice the result with half the effort to reshape the image of Britain as a sports power.

Strictly speaking, there has never been a real "British team" in the history of the Olympic Games. This time, the London Olympic Organizing Committee and the British Prime Minister hope to form a joint team, which will be the first time that a real British team has appeared in the Olympic Games. At present, Welsh promising stars Ramsey and Bell have once again expressed their desire to represent Britain in the London Olympic Games. It seems that the desire of all British people to get together and try to win the championship is irresistible. This may be another extremely successful event of the London Olympic Games that "affects a generation" and can go down in history.

In recent years, the British government has also used all available opportunities to promote Britain and enhance its image with the help of the Olympic Games.

In April this year, on the occasion of the countdown to the London Olympic Games 100, British driver Hamilton, after preparing for the F 1 China Station, appeared with Yao Ming on the Pujiang cruise ship of the Oriental Pearl of Shanghai, contributing to the global promotion of "Great Britain" for the London Olympic Games, hoping not only to present a vibrant Britain to the China public before the arrival of the 20 12 London Olympic Games. British Minister Jeremy hunter said: "20 12 is an exciting year for Britain. The eyes of the whole world will not only focus on the London Olympics and Paralympics, but also Britain will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne. We hope that the whole world can share exciting moments with us. This is also the true meaning of GREAT and the message we hope to bring to China. "

As early as two years ago, the British government said that during the Olympic Games, they would use practical actions to prove that hosting the Olympic Games would not only create a stage for the world's sports elites to compete for gold and silver, but also provide a series of free activities with British humanistic atmosphere for everyone who came to London, and British culture would be transmitted in a less blunt way.

At present, almost all primary and secondary schools in Britain hope to use the Olympic Games to strengthen physical education for young people. Wang Yang, a student of China Culture College of Beijing Normal University, went to stockport as a volunteer to teach Chinese for one year. He told reporters that the sports atmosphere in London is very good. People who run and ride mountain bikes can be seen during the day and night. Even if it rains, many people are exercising.

With the opportunity of the Olympic Games, the British even need to correct their country's "diet". At that time, after London defeated Paris and successfully won the right to host the 20 12 Olympic Games, then French President Jacques Chirac expressed some "ridicule" and some "dissatisfaction": "Why should the Olympic Games be held in a country with such poor food?" In fact, English food is really unpopular. No wonder the French president is so ridiculous that the British can't refute it. At that time, British Prime Minister Blair seemed to acquiesce. Now, with the London Olympic Games approaching, the British people are beginning to correct the names of British dishes. They warmly invited famous restaurants from many countries to come to London for "short-term business", and for this reason, they also introduced temporary catering licenses.

In addition, Britain will also use the Olympic Games to revitalize the development of British tourism. According to the forecast of British Tourism Board, Britain will receive 3,000 tourists in 20 12, which will bring 654.38+0.6 billion pounds of tourism revenue and 250,000 full-time jobs to London. In the five years after the Olympic Games, the Olympic legacy will continue to promote the development of tourism. It is estimated that the number of tourists will increase by 65,438+0,654,380+million, which will bring 700 million pounds of income growth.

Facts have proved that the London Olympic Games, which is trying to "influence a generation", is moving towards the goal they set. For the British who have hosted two Olympic Games and are hosting the third Olympic Games, they are no longer satisfied with their Olympic complex and disdain to establish the image and national prestige of "the sun never sets on the empire". They hope to realize the ambition of bringing people's humanities, economy and sports back to the center of the world through the Olympic Games, which reflects the organizers' efforts to promote the British humanistic concept, jointly form a far-reaching British Olympic team, or increase the budget for the opening ceremony and Olympic security.

In 50 days, let's meet at the Olympic Stadium.