This is wishful thinking as the costs are staggering and Kenya will have only four years to prepare its bid. According to the Economist Greece spent $9 – 12 billion on the 2004 games or roughly $800 (Kshs. 64,000) per citizen.

For that, at the end of the games, Greece ended up with magnificent stadiums, public parks, cheap housing, better roads and new suburban rail lines and other infrastructure improvements, many of which would never have been started, let alone completed, without the Olympic deadline.

While it is possible that that increased tourism can offset the cost of hosting the games, a phenomenon known as the “Barcelona effect”, most Olympics have left host countries poorer from the huge debts that take decades to pay.