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Research question: Debates about dietary health promotion at sports events are becoming more prominent and are making food and drink sport sponsorship arrangements increasingly problematic. This study uses choice architecture as a guiding framework to examine how ideas about 'healthy choices' for customer food and drink were operationalised at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil.Research methods: An interdisciplinary perspective was applied, whereby considerations of public health, marketing, psychology, policy studies, nutrition and event management informed the research. A multi-method approach was utilised, which included policy analysis, menu analysis, event process analysis, and interviews with spectators. The data were compared and contrasted to see how ideas about health manifested in policy and practice, culminating in the Rio 2016 event.Results and findings: While 'healthy choice' claims featured prominently in Rio 2016 policy, the practical reality consisted of spaces with both a very low amount of choice for Olympic spectators, and a large amount of high-and ultra-processed food. Rio 2016 organisers shaped the choice architecture so that the food and drink being sold and consumed met neither the spectators' nor Brazilian policy definitions of health. Implications:The results show a need for organisers of sport events to question and challenge popular claims of health promotion. Recommendations for governments and sport organisations include the need to alter the accepted production practices of sport mega events, especially since the events are often in receipt of public money and involve unfulfilled claims about health promotion.

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From a public health perspective, there are growing concerns about the commercial arrangements between sports events and companies which sell ultra-processed food and drink. In particular, companies are accused of connecting products that are perceived as unhealthy with sport and physical activity that is perceived as healthy. This study examined the tensions and conflicts between health promotion policy and the marketing and consumption reality at the 2016 European Championship football tournament in France. This study is informed theoretically by a critical, political economy lens. Discourse analysis, semiotic analysis, venue analysis and participant observation were employed to gather data from relevant policy and event management plans, sponsor advertisements, site architecture, food and drink offerings and displays at stadia and fan zones. These sources were assessed for the way they encouraged healthy or unhealthy consumption behaviours. The analysis found that the health advice promoted by the French government and the tournament owners (UEFA) differed markedly from the reality at the points of consumption. Unhealthy products dominated inside the stadia and fan zones sampled. In many instances there were little or no healthy foods on display for customers. Despite a self-proclaimed status as having 'healthy stadia', a limited vision of health at Euro 2016 was promoted, which was largely restricted to the attempted provision of smoke-free spaces. This raises questions for sport megaevents which are in receipt of public funding and which claim to promote health. This study encourages policy makers, sports funders and consumers to critically evaluate health claims made by sport events and sponsors.