The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics turned a profit of $56m (�38.6m), much of which will be used to maintain venues built for the Games.

The surplus, announced Wednesday by Olympic organisers, was attributed to early budget cuts, detailed planning, good weather and revenue that exceeded the budget projections by $6m.

After subtracting $10m of unused federal money that will be returned to the US Government and $6m for community improvements, the Olympics will be left with a $40m surplus.

It is a better economic performance than the much larger 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta turned in.

Those games had about $10m left over after the bills were paid.

Legacy

The 1984 Summer Games, held in Los Angeles, produced a surplus of more than $200m.

The majority of the surplus will be added to the Utah Athletic Foundation.

That body oversees a legacy fund for maintenance of the Utah Olympic Park, site of bobsled, luge, skeleton and ski jumping, and the Utah Olympic Park, the long-track speedskating venue.

In addition, the International Olympic Committee is giving its portion of the surplus to the legacy fund, IOC president Jacques Rogge said Wednesday.

Rogge said the donation was a "gesture of gratitude to all the people of Utah, and as an encouragement to the youth of the state of Utah".

The operating budget for the Salt Lake City Winter Games was $1.3bn.