MOSCOW (AP) — The Winter Olympics in Sochi posted a provisional surplus of $261 million, Russian organizers said Thursday.
The figure is $119 million higher than a previous profit figure reported in April, but is still dwarfed by the government subsidies given to the organizing committee, valued at $420 million in December.
The Sochi organizing committee said its projected surplus is a record for any games.
The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics produced a surplus of $232 million. The 2008 Beijing Games claimed a profit of over $146 million, while the 2012 London Olympics recorded an $8 million surplus.
The surplus is only from the Sochi organizing committee, which had an operations budget of about $2 billion. It does not cover any construction or infrastructure costs. Russia’s overall spending for the games totaled $51 billion.
Sochi organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said in a statement that all the profit would be “oriented towards the development of sport in Russia,” with plans to provide “a significant sum” to Paralympic sports from the profits, plus a lump sum of $17.5 million.
The organizing committee promised final results by the end of the year, by which time it expects to wind up its operations and be dissolved.
As well as government subsidies, the organizing committee also earned money from merchandizing, ticket sales and sponsorships, including from Russian state-owned companies.
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