What will the London Olympics do to influence a generation to rebuild a strong country?

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 performed there? How many storms will the Sino-US gold medal war set off? Liu Xiang, Sun Yang, Li Na and other "loong" and "China Phoenix" will continue to write many legends?

In history, the British have twice "stepped forward" when facing the crisis of 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 "Influence 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 Olympic Games once again is no longer to satisfy their Olympic complex, nor to disdain to establish the image and national prestige of "the sun never sets on the empire". They prefer to realize the ambition of returning humanities, economy and sports to the center of the world through the Olympic Games.

After the 4th Olympic Games in 198 and 14th Olympic Games in 1948, the 3th Olympic Games in 212 came to ancient London for the third time. Now, the whole world is looking forward to the London Olympics. People are curious about what will be wonderful in this Olympic Games, and they are also curious about what the slogan of the London Olympic Games-"influence a generation"-means.

Get out of the predicament and turn passive into active

On June 5th, the 5th countdown day of the London Olympic Games, sebastian coe, president of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, declared to the world that London is ready and will meet this great event with confidence.

Different from 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 wise Englishman did not retreat, but rose in adversity and broke through the predicament. London turned passive into active and reversed the crisis. 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 have made the British economy difficult. Influenced by the long-term low birth rate, the extension of average life expectancy and the large-scale aging of the baby boomers after World War II, the social burden of most European countries has become heavier and heavier since the end of the 2th century. However, even with the economic depression and social pressure, most people in Europe are reluctant to change the pattern of high consumption and high welfare. Regardless of their financial situation and economic strength, individual EU member governments blindly seek the same high welfare as developed countries. Among them, less developed Greece and Ireland are more prominent. In 21, the proportion of social welfare expenditure in GDP in Greece was 2.6%, and the proportion of social welfare in total government expenditure was as high as 41.6%.

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 1 billion pounds and the media center with a budget of 4 million pounds-to get the funds in place for a long time. In order to save money, London even canceled the construction plan of four stadiums and moved the events to the existing venues. In fact, IOC President Jacques Rogge is very aware of the financial problems facing London. He said, "I know that after our success in Beijing, we have entered a period of economic difficulties. But before the Olympic Games, we have successfully overcome difficulties. The history of the Olympic Games tells us that as long as we make up our minds and work hard, we can overcome temporary difficulties. "

Before that, London had hosted two Olympic Games, in 198, the initial stage of the modern Olympic Games, and in 1948, after the end of World War II. After more than 6 years, it won the right to host the 212 Olympic Games again, making London the first city to host the Olympic Games for three times. But it is also very accidental. The first two Olympic Games were held in London. The 198 Olympic Games should have been held in Rome. At that time, Mount Vesuvius in Italy suddenly erupted, causing a huge disaster. The Italian government had no time to take care of the Olympic Games, so the International Olympic Committee awarded the Olympic Games to London. The 1948 Olympic Games was held after the Second World War, and all countries were busy with recovery and reconstruction. In October 1945, the British Olympic Committee applied to the International Olympic Committee to host the 14th Olympic Games, and London was the only bidding city, so Britain easily won the right to host the Games. London once again became the "savior" of the Olympic Games. The organizers of the 1948 Olympic Games were short of money, and even the athletes had to limit their meals. However, it is admirable that the British government at that time did not beat up its face and pretend to be fat, but tried every means possible with only one purpose: to run the Olympic Games as well as possible under the existing conditions.

The British never expected that, more than half a century later, when they enjoyed the honor of hosting the Olympic Games for the third time, they actually faced an unexpected financial crisis! According to industry experts, the British government originally estimated that about 7 million pounds of private funds would be injected into the Olympic Games and the reconstruction project around Stratford, east of London. However, after the Beijing Olympic Games, global banks stopped lending, developers were short of funds, and taxpayers would have to passively intervene. Providing 17, athletes, officials and referees to stay in the Olympic Village, which is estimated to cost 1 billion pounds, was once the biggest headache. Developers hope to sell some buildings after the Olympics to recover some investment. The London Olympic Organizing Committee, which is responsible for the infrastructure of the 212 London Olympic Games, plans to invest 5 million pounds to build the Olympic Village and Media Center, and the rest will be financed by private enterprises.

In the face of a series of difficulties and obstacles, the British people did not retreat, but made up their minds by formulating a series of measures-to hold a "thrifty" but "profitable" Olympic Games.

Since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, "profit" has become one of the important reasons why countries compete to bid for the Olympic Games, and Britain is no exception. When bidding, they took the Olympic Games as a reason to convince the public that it can boost the economy. Affected by the financial crisis, the British economy will experience negative growth in the first half of 212, and the number of unemployed people will rise to 2.85 million. The British government hopes to revitalize the economy through the Olympic Games. Prime Minister Cameron ordered an extra 41 million pounds to be put into 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 41 million pounds is not to catch up with the Beijing Olympic Games, but to hope that people in Britain will want to travel here after leaving, so as to maximize our economic and tourism interests."

It is difficult for everyone to be happy when hosting the Olympic Games under the financial crisis, but the goal of hosting an Olympic Games with the highest return on investment and the most sustainable performance 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 1 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 tourism profitability. In order to get the British retail industry out of the current predicament, the British government relaxed the rule that stores open 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 22, 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 will bring 9, pounds to businesses.

In addition, the British government also wants to use hosting the Olympic Games to open up markets for British enterprises, focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises. Collins, managing director of the Olympic Heritage Department of British Investment and Trade, revealed to the media that there are two main ways for them to promote the economy through the Olympics. One is the "British Enterprise Club", which is an online business information platform that any enterprise can join for free and still be used 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 always participated 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 building a business platform for enterprises, the British government 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 event venue in central London for free during the Olympic Games, which has provided great convenience to small and medium-sized enterprises affected by the financial crisis.

Of course, it is still unknown how much the British government can achieve through its efforts, but as sebastian coe said, "The Olympic Games is not just a 17-day event. When we bid, we promised to transform the East End, and now we have developed and transformed 12 hectares of it." Regarding whether to lose money by hosting the London Olympic Games, Luo Beide, director of the Business Support and Promotion Department of the London Development Agency, said: "The revitalization of London, the world's commercial capital and the world's financial services capital through the Olympic Games, cannot be simply measured by commercial interests."

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

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

From the end of 18th century to the beginning of 19th century, the industrial revolution was initiated in Britain. There are many scientific discoveries and inventions in Britain, such as steam engines, jet engines, penicillin, deoxyribonucleic acid and so on. Over the past 2 years, world-class colleges and universities have also developed in Britain. Oxford University and Cambridge University have a longer history, dating back to the 12th century. The British kingdom was once 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 among the top five in the world in previous years. As the largest financial center in Europe, London's financial market attracts many companies from all over the world to take advantage of British business opportunities. Due to the devaluation of the pound and the financial crisis in recent years, the total GNP of Britain once fell out of the top five and was surpassed by France. This makes the self-respecting British people 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 from 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 country of origin of the modern Olympic Games is Greece, but when it comes to the birthplace of modern sports, Britain is the absolute leader. Britain is the originator of modern football, but also the birthplace of many small ball sports: 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 splendid history in many sports and is the originator of many modern sports, it is still compared with other sports powers and countries in the world. In addition, it is an indisputable fact that Britain has been 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 arrogance and prejudice, hoping to convey British humanistic values to all parts of the world by hosting the Olympic Games again. According to the British media, the British government formulated a strategic document for the London Olympics at the beginning of its bid, in which it evaluated the role of hosting the Olympic Games in enhancing Britain's image and national self-confidence.

The Olympic slogan "Influence one generation" is also reflected in the British government's desire to promote "national reunification". Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown once made a speech to defend national unity, and at that time, the leader of the British Conservative Party, that is, the current Prime Minister David Cameron, also made the voice that "being together is stronger than being apart". Although England is a frequent visitor to international competitions, it represents only England, which is only a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Playing in the name of Britain through a joint team means that a United and powerful Britain appears in front of the world. The unified political stance behind the Olympic Games and football matches shows the image of Britain as a world power. It is undeniable that every host is looking forward to good results. Britain, which is fighting at home, undoubtedly hopes to take this opportunity to return to the position of a world sports power. However, it is not convincing to win gold medals in bicycles, kayaks and sailboats. As a team event, football has a heavier weight, and London hopes to find the feeling of being the old football leader. However, England's performance in international competitions in the last ten years is lackluster. If we play as "British United", we can integrate Britain's strongest football resources, such as Fletcher, Bell and Ramsey. Once we win the football gold medal at home, it will have a multiplier effect on remolding Britain's image 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 hopefuls Ramsey and Bell have once again expressed their desire to represent Britain in the London Olympics. It seems that the desire of all British people to get together and work hard to win the championship is irresistible. This may be another extremely successful event that "affects a generation" of the London Olympic Games and can go down in history.

In recent years, the British government has also made use of 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 1th countdown to the London Olympic Games, British driver Hamilton appeared with Yao Ming on the Pujiang cruise ship of Shanghai Oriental Pearl after preparing for the F1 China Station, in order to help the global promotion of "GREAT Britain" for the London Olympic Games, hoping to present not only a vibrant Britain to the China public, but also its advantages in the field of creativity and innovation. British Minister Jeremy hunter said: "212 is an exciting year for Britain. The eyes of the whole world will not only turn to the London Olympics and Paralympics, but also Britain will celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. We hope that the whole world can share exciting moments with us, which is also the true meaning of GREAT and the information 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 will not only create a stage for sports elites all over the world to compete for gold and silver, but also provide everyone who comes to London with a series of free British humanities.