World Champs in Melbourne a Financial Struggle

MELBOURNE, Australia, October 31. THE FINA World Championships, held earlier this year in Melbourne, will forever be remembered for a surge of world records and the site of Michael Phelps' seven-gold medal show, but the event proved to be a financial bust. According to the Herald Sun, the competition came in at a $10.9 million loss.

Government officials indicated, however, that the event was under budget by a half-million dollars due to a surplus of $11.5 million from the previous year. The government contributed $24 million to the World Champs in 2006-07 and, since costs were spread over a handful of years, the government contributed $63 million on an overall basis.

Despite the financial losses, the World Champs must be viewed as a huge success, as the swimming-crazed nation of Australia hosted an event that was nothing short of exceptional. Of course, Phelps four individual world records and seven gold medals were the highlights, but the event was fast all-around, adding to the hype for next year's Olympics in Beijing.

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