By Duncan Mackay at the Windsor Atlântica Hotel in Rio de Janeiro

Sochi 2014 made a profit of $53 million, new figures published by the IOC have revealed ©Getty ImagesSochi 2014 made an operating profit of RUB3.25 billion (£34 million/$53 million/€47 million), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have announced here. 


The IOC had already decided to transfer its 20 per cent share of this total - RUB650 million (£6 million/$10 million/€9 million) - to the Russian Olympic Committee, who plan to use the windfall for the development of sport in the country and to establish an Olympic Museum there.

The Games will always be remembered for the headline figure of $51 billion (£31 billion/€37 billion), the amount Russian officials reportedly spent on constructing the venues and infrastructure to host the event.

IOC President Thomas Bach has always strongly disputed that all of this figure was linked to the cost of staging the Olympics and it was unfair to suggest that is how much the Games cost. 

But the figure has already entered into Olympic folklore and cast a shadow over the campaign to find a host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics annd Paralympics.

It led to several European cities, including Kraków, Munich, Oslo and Stockholm, all being forced to abandon bids or withdraw them following public opposition, with the figure Sochi spent usually being used as one of the leading reasons why they should not host the Olympics.

Bach has now made it a mission to change the public's perceptions about how much hosting the Olympics and Paralympics costs.

To this end, the IOC have revealed that they contributed $883 million (£572 million/€789 million) to support Sochi 2014, $83 million (£54 million/€74 million) more than previous estimates.

The IOC are planning to contribute $1.5 billion (£971 million/€1.3 billion) towards next year's Summer Olympics here. 

Thomas Bach has always disputed that Sochi 2014 cost $51 billion, the figure widely reported ©Getty ImagesThomas Bach has always disputed that Sochi 2014 cost $51 billion, the figure widely reported ©Getty Images

"The Executive Board agreed that there remains a misconception around the cost of hosting the Olympic Games and Olympic Winter Games, and the difference between the operational budget and the infrastructure budget," Mark Adams, the IOC spokesman, said. 

"All recent editions of the Games have either made an operational profit or broken even.

"The Olympic Games are privately funded, with a large contribution from the IOC.

"The other part of the budget is the investment that the host city authorities decide to make in addition to the operational budget.

"How this is funded and the figure needed very much depends on what already exists in the city and the legacy vision of the city and country.

"The more infrastructure that is already in place, for example, the less a city has to spend to build new stadiums and other facilities."

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