He said that Beijing "blew the doors off" the sums raised from merchandising at previous Games.
 

The comment strongly suggests that the first Games held in China brought in well over $100 million (£61 million) from licensing, which is the smallest of the Olympic Movement’s four main revenue sources after broadcasting rights, sponsorship and ticketing.
 

Prior to Beijing, the much-criticised Atlanta Summer Games of 1996 had been the most successful from a merchandising standpoint, yielding $91 million (£56 million).
 

By way of comparison, the Sydney 2000 Olympics generated $52 million (£32 million), with Athens 2004 bringing in $61.5 million (£37.9 million) and the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics $22 million (£13.5 million).
 

Carrión’s remark provides fresh evidence of the Movement’s financial strength, notwithstanding the recession which has taken its toll on the corporate sponsorship market.
 

Beijing - which took place while the commercial environment was still buoyant - will also have smashed records for domestic sponsorship income, raising well over $1 billion (£616 million).
 

All told, it is thought that the Movement generated about $5.4 billion (£3.3 million) in the four-year cycle, or “quadrennium”, culminating with Beijing - near 30 per cent increase compared with 2001-04, where the equivalent figure was $4.2 billion (£2.5 million).
 

More surprisingly, there seems every chance that a similar growth rate can be sustained in the current 2009-12 Olympic quadrennium.
 

This time, the main engine looks set to be broadcasting rights, with Carrión (pictured) telling The Financial Times that income from that source “will probably come in north of $3.8 billion (£2.3 billion) over the four years concluding with the London 2012 Olympics.
 

This would compare with $2.57 billion (£1.58 billion) in 2005-08 – an increase of nearly 50 per cent.
 

Barring something unexpected, such as cancellation of an edition of the Games or a financial crisis at some of the world’s biggest media companies, the Olympic Movement looks well placed – as the IOC prepares to assemble in Copenhagen – to confound economists by showing that sport can be, if not recession-proof, then thoroughly recession-resistant.
 

"If you look at the total financial picture, the report card on the current health of the IOC and the Olympic Movement must continue to be 'very positive'," says Michael Payne, former IOC marketing director.
 

"People really need to look at the full picture and not get blindsided by the odd headline of one sponsor or another stepping down."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected].