The numbers attached to the 2012 Olympic games in London are staggering, to say the least. This year’s event found 10,490 athletes competing in 34 venues for an audience of 8.8 million spectators and 21,000 members of the press and media, according to The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The only numbers more impressive than those are the financial implications surrounding such a massive undertaking.

But the old adage that you have to spend money to make money has never been truer.

The five sporting facilities that make up Olympic Village cost more than $1.4 billion to build, according to SmartBidNet, a software company that specializes in commercial construction. In fact, London’s Olympic Stadium alone cost $758 million to build, almost twice as much as the £250 million ($390.5 million) stadium in Beijing, the Olympic host in 2008.

Did you attend this summer’s games in person, or did you watch from home? What were your favorite events?