Twenty years after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the massive venues built for the Games continue to host major events, from swim meets to concerts, even if they have had to slash their fees to face Spain’s economic crisis.
The Games were a catalyst for the regeneration of industrial areas and old quarters and it opened Spain’s second-largest city to the Mediterranean thanks to the construction of a marina and the Olympic village by the sea.
Today the village has become a neighbourhood of 1,800 apartments which were sold to the public after the sports event was over.
Public transportation also benefited from the Games with the construction of a ring road linking the four main Olympic sites, as well as a massive redevelopment of the city’s railway station and airport.
“From the beginning we recognised that the project was a pretext. The goal was to do in six years what it would normally take 50 years to do,” said Barcelona Olympic Organising Committee chief Miquel Abad.
In total 9.844 billion euros ($12.335 billion) were spent on the Olympics, including 5.985 billion euros in insfrastructure and 3.859 billion euros in construction and equipment.
The bill has been fully paid off since 2007, according to Barcelona city hall.
The Olympic venues host over 150 events per year, said Ignasi Armengol, the director of Barcelona Municipal Services, the municipal company charged with managing the installations.
Most are held in the 70,000-seat Olympic Stadium and the 20,000-seat Palau Sant Jordi stadium in Montjuic, a hill overlooking Barcelona’s harbour, he added.
Bruce Springsteen performed at the Olympic Stadium last month, following in the footsteps of Bon Jovi and Coldplay.
