Developing a physical activity legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: a policy-led systematic review

Abstract

Physical activity policy makers and professionals should seek to satisfy this desire to participate through providing physical activity (rather than sport) opportunities presented as fun community events or programmes. The key to generating a physical activity legacy among the least active adults through this process is to de-emphasise the sporting element of the 2012 Games and promote the festival element.

A case study investigating the impact of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on participation in two non-traditional English sports, Judo and Fencing

“…In conclusion findings during the conclusive period of this study emphasised the significance of grass-root programme implementation and the need to enhance the delivery and communication within this networks, in order for sports organisations to be able to utilise a multi-sport, mega-event to its full potential. This paper gathered evidence that goes beyond large scale evaluations (Weed et al, 2009;Veal, Toohey and Frawley, 2013) of the sporting impacts of the sporting megaevents by concentrating on the specifics of single sports in order to reveal a richer picture of mechanisms and factors responsible for such impacts. This research has contributed to the enhancement of the current body of Olympic and mega-event literature and provides the opportunity for future, additional studies to build on these preliminary results.…”

“…Both fencing and judo developed and implemented community based programmes during the 'pregnancy period', where programmes need to be capitalised upon to fully leverage a change in PA (Weed et al 2009). As well as during the LOPG event and beyond, i.e.…”

“…A recent study evaluating the 2000 Sydney Olympics highlights the legacy of the Games may be evident through urban developments such as new infrastructure, however verification of such a mega-events impact on PA remains elusive (Bauman, Bellew and Craig, 2014). Grix (2014) reinforced the idea that there is limited evidence to support the reality of many mega-event hosts 'hoped-for' legacies and that current evidence is poor as previous Olympic and Paralympic Games have used generic measures of social impacts, which has resulted in incomprehensible evidence regarding the changes to health and PA (Weed et al, 2009). …”

“…Nevertheless, as an alternative, Weed et al (2009) proposed the 'festival' effect as a more beneficial way to engage sedentary individuals, as the 'trickle down' effect is mainly advantageous for individuals already positively engaged with sport and physical activity. Grix and Carmichael (2011) in their effort to address the complex relationship between elite and mass sport participation coined the concept of a'virtuous cycle' in which 'elite success on the international stage leads to prestige and elite sport contributes to a collective sense of identity; this, then, boosts a greater mass sport participation, leading to a healthier populace; this, in turn, provides a bigger pool of talent from which to choose the elite stars of the future and which ensures elite success.…”

Educational Olympic Challenge: the Legacy of Public Sport Participation

“…In 2008, the UK government announced its policy of achieving the target of a 1% per annum increased sport participation in the adult population (Shipway 2007, Weed et al 2012. The UK government interest in the promoting of sport participation was based on the assumption, that such increased mass participation in sport leads to improvement in the health of the nation.…”