The tournament I'd like to describe is the Asian Games that took place in Hangzhou, the city where my parents live, in the autumn of 2023. I was living there at the time, working as a junior architect, so I saw the whole process from the preparations to the closing ceremony.
The reaction in the city was enormous. For months beforehand, there were posters with the mascots on every bus stop, and thousands of residents signed up as volunteers. My neighbour, a retired teacher, volunteered as a guide at the metro station because she spoke a bit of English. During the games themselves, the atmosphere was like a festival; people gathered in front of big screens in shopping centres, and even the taxi drivers were discussing table tennis results.
The effects on the city were mostly positive in my view. The public transport network expanded very quickly, with new metro lines opened ahead of the games, and those lines are still saving people hours every week. A lot of the old roads were resurfaced and the riverside was turned into a pleasant walking area. On the other hand, there was a lot of disruption during construction, and prices in some areas went up. As an architect, I was also interested in how the venues would be used afterwards. Some have been turned into public sports centres, which is great, but one or two seem rather empty now. Overall, though, I think the games gave the city confidence and a sense of being on the world stage, and that feeling hasn't completely disappeared.