To the surprise of much of the world, Greece overcame construction delays, a July blackout in Athens, weak ticket sales, and infamous sweltering summer temperatures to put on a fun and secure show at the 2004 Summer Olympics. But, as predicted by much of the world, the shiny aura of olive wreaths and medals has given way to the hazy, harsh reality of the small Mediterranean country’s economic outlook; the government’s estimate of the Games’ cost, 8.95 billion euro (US$10.83 billion), puts them 4.35 billion euro (US$5.26 billion) over budget and makes the 2004 Olympic Games the most expensive in the 108-year history of the modern Olympics.

The record-setting price of the Games brings an uncertain future for indebted Greece, which sits near the bottom of the European Union’s economic ladder. The small Mediterranean country’s budget deficit for 2004 is projected at 5.3 percent of its gross domestic product, a figure which would place Greece well above the three percent maximum limit for EU members using the euro currency. Although richer and more developed EU states such as France also exceed the three percent ceiling, they do so to a lesser degree and to much less general consternation, given the much greater relative strength of their economies.

In its public statements about the Games’ cost, the center-right New Democracy Party government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis is predictably emphasizing the prestige accrued as justification for the money lost. “There were massive over-runs—this investment is big, but all Greeks should be proud [of the Games],” Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said after a November meeting with Karamanlis.

Alogoskoufis also said that the 8.95 billion euro price tag did not include “the construction cost of projects completed or sped up to be ready in time for the Games,” improvements like Athens’ three-year old airport, a new ring road, and a tram line. This announcement came after the former socialist administration, which the New Democracy party defeated in elections last March, promised that the Olympics would not cost much more than 4.6 billion euro. The European Commission’s December announcement that Greece had submitted inaccurate deficit data before joining the euro zone in 2001 has dealt another blow to the credibility of Greece’s finances.

And the post-Olympics hangover extends beyond the economic realm. The early October crash of a bus carrying seven children to Athens to see the Paralympics, a competition for disabled athletes, has fueled a somber mood in a country once riding high after the relative success of the main event in August.

The Olympics have, however, left behind some undeniably positive public works. It still remains to be seen how useful or cost-effective they will prove to be. Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the head of ATHOC, the Athens Games’ organizing body, claimed that Greece had built 20 years’ worth of new infrastructure in five years. Definite improvements include the Olympic Village, which will become affordable housing, new highways as well as a tram line to the southern beaches that should alleviate Athens’ notorious traffic jams, and the installation of tourist-friendly pedestrian walkways around such Athenian classical monuments as the Parthenon.

Less concrete is the promise of the stadiums, which Daskalaki hopes will become recreation centers for the poor neighborhoods in which they are generally situated, and of the main sports complex, which features an attractive park and public spaces designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Indeed, large sports facilities are an improvement, but are they an essential one in a country in need of more hospitals and long-term economic benefits that better highways might provide? The question has been hotly debated since Athens was awarded the Games and only time will answer it.

Nevertheless, the success of the Games is undeniable; a total of four billion television viewers watched Greece host the rest of the world for a terrorism-free, blackout-less, entertaining two weeks of memorable athletic performances. Optimists say that the international prestige gained by Greece during the Olympics cannot be translated into monetary terms, whereas pessimists counter by noting that the birthplace of democracy is struggling to maintain its position at the bottom of the EU economy. Lying somewhere between those poles, the truth seems to be that now that the party’s over, it is time to clean up the mess.