On 17 October 2003 I had a letter published in the Evening Standard entitled "Hidden Cost of Olympics", which exposed the fallacy that a London 2012 Olympics could make a profit.

During the course of debate over the following months, the bid leaders moved from claiming the Games would make a profit to admitting that they would require a government subsidy of up to £2.5 billion. All except Ken Livingstone, who has continued spouting nonsense about profits from the Arup report he commissioned.

I am proud to think I may have played a part in shifting the terms of the debate. On 17 October 2002, the Evening Standard published a letter from me entitled "Hidden Cost of Olympics". It was the first time the figures contained in the misleading Ove Arup cost/benefit study were challenged in public. Later, my evidence on cost escalations in Sydney and Athens was accepted as evidence by the Government Committee on Media, Culture and Sport, chaired by Gerald Kaufman.

I have no interest in being known in Olympic circles as a wrecker. But I don't mind being known as someone who holds the Olympic Family to account when they try to mislead public and politicians about the costs of holding an Olympics. If they can't bid and organise the Games openly and honestly, they lose all right to control the Olympic patrimony.

Here's the Evening Standard letter that kicked it all off, in full:

"Hidden Cost of Olympics", Evening Standard Letters Page, 17 October 2002

"So your correspondent Matt Hughes beleives that a London Olympic Games would not cost taxpayers money (London Olympics would be in Profit, Tuesday 15 October)?

"The report he quotes, which was commissioned by the Government, was undertaken by Ove Arup. Fabulous construction engineers, but not economic forecasters. Also, by coincidence, the same Ove Arup who won numerous awards for their buildings for Sydney 2000.

"Here are the facts from Sydney 2000. In 1993, when they bid for the Games, they claimed they would cost only $AUS 3 billion (£1 billion). This year the Auditor-General of New South Wales found the real cost ended up being $AUS 6.6 billion. At the time of the bid, it was claimed only $AUS 363 million would come from the public purse. The Auditor-General found it ended up between $AUS 1.7 billion and $AUS 2.4 billion (£580m and £840m). The reason for the discrepancy was that the bid budget had excluded massive cost items like facilities and infrastructure investment, as well as the diversion of public resources like police time. The Ove Arup figures do the same thing.

"The Athens bid committee pulled the same stunt. At the time of their bid in 1997, the budget was just $1.3 billion (£840 million). They projected a profit of $36m (£23m). In 2000, once the poor early planning of the Games had been recognised, this figure leapt to $5.3 billion (£3.4 billion). In April 2001 the Finance Ministry increased their estimate to $6.2 (£4.0 billion); and even that excludes up to $600m (£400m) of increased security post September-11.

"On the revenue side, the figures are based on an assumption of ever-increasing price for the TV revenues. What happens if the current slump in advertising persists? A big hole opens up in the bid budgets, that's what. And you can ask the Football League what that feels like.

"Under the rules of bidding for an Olympics, the International Olympic Committee insists that host cities underwrite all liabilities of the Games. Unless the GLA does this, £15m worth of work on the bid will go straight into a Lausanne dustbin. If the GLA underwrites the Games, each household in London is writing a £1,300 insurance contract on the 2012 Games. Should we do this without a proper discussion?

"I am not against a London Olympic bid. But please let's have a proper discussion, based on a proper cost/benefit study. As a start Ken Livingstone and Minister for Sport Richard Caborn have to publish the Ove Arup report, which they commissioned with taxpayers money, and the British Olympic Association's bid dossier so that Londoners can decide whether we trust them to avoid another Millennium Dome."

Michael Liebreich
British Olympic Team 1992
Notting Hill, W11