Olympic bid loss made New York City stronger

Jay Kriegel, executive director of NYC 2012, which lost its Olympic bid to London in 2005, said he and his team conceived their strategy in a way that would benefit the city regardless of what the International Olympic Committee decided.

Kriegel said many projects involving athletic facilities, such as parks and the stadiums, were fast-tracked as a result for the Olympic push.

"We . . . examined the consequences of not winning as well as winning, and history has shown that we achieved that goal," Kriegel said.

Mitchell Moss, director for the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at NYU, said the Olympic bid was an infrastructural boost for the city.

In his paper, "How New York City Won the Olympics," published in November, Moss pointed out that "the real long-lasting effect is the first new piece of mass transit has been built by city funding," he said. The No. 7 train extension is slated to open in 2014.

Moss' report also pointed out that the bid helped fast-track the new stadiums. In addition, rezoning projects in western Queens that would create an Olympic Village are now being used to create affordable apartment buildings and new commercial sectors.