Talking about the ‘rotten fruits’ of Rio 2016: Framing mega-event legacies

Talbot, Adam

doi:10.1177/1012690219878842

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…The extent to which resistance to involvement in Olympic projects has mounted suggests that lessons such as these have had an impact (Lenskyj, 2008;Talbot, 2019). Yet although critics continue to dispute the validity and effectiveness of using megaevents to fast-track urban development, in the final analysis Sydney and London are represented as the two best advertisements from the twenty-first century's Games as to what Olympic-led urban regeneration can mean for the host city.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The popular and professional media shifted their stance from largely uncritical approval towards greater negativity, characteristically highlighting instances of poor planning, overambitious stadium design, heavy cost overruns, environmental damage, security and militarisation, corruption, and lack of accountability (e.g. Giulianotti, 2013;Karamichas, 2013;Raco, 2014;Pavoni, 2015;Talbot, 2019). These developments were not without precedent.…”

Section: Olympic Legacymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Land remediation, event spaces and the pursuit of Olympic legacy

Gold

2020

Geography Compass

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This paper explores the links between remediating land for Olympic event spaces and the pursuit of legacy. In particular, it considers ways in which redevelopment of the sizeable spaces prepared for staging the event take their place in broader strategies intended to bring long-term benefits to the host city and society in order to compensate for the costs and inconvenience originally incurred in hosting the Games. There are six main sections. The first analyses the diverse nature of brownfield land and highlights salient characteristics of its remediation for use in urban regeneration. The second supplies background to Olympic legacy and indicates the importance of the changing climate of ideas in understanding the formulation of legacy over the past two decades. The third section documents the role of remediation as an option employed recently by Games' organisers when needing to find spaces of suitable size to stage the Olympics, noting how choosing remediation ab initio involves commitment to legacy. The fourth and fifth parts analyse approaches to implementing remediation, with respect to the key event spaces for two of the twenty-first century's Summer Games: Homebush Bay, which housed the Olympic Park for Sydney 2000; and the Lower Lea Valley, which served the same function for London 2012. The final section provides commentary on the wider narratives of transformation associated with deployment of remediated sites for Olympic event spaces and indicates the significance of the values that have underpinned those narratives.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Olympic Legacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Land remediation, event spaces and the pursuit of Olympic legacy

Gold

2020

Geography Compass

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“…Internal factors then include the expansion from 16 to 24 qualified teams, the desire of bringing the tournament 'closer' to European fans and the tournament's 60th anniversary. Meanwhile, the external factors include the lack of interested hosts (Parent and Chappelet, 2015), which again may be seen in context of broader scepticism towards hosting rights bidding in the 21st century (Talbot, 2021).…”

Section: Closer To the Fans? Unpacking Euro 2020mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mega-events, expansion and prospects: Perceptions of Euro 2020 and its 12-country hosting format

Ludvigsen

2021

Journal of Consumer Culture

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Mega-events occupy important roles within global consumer societies, and so, this article aims to advance the sociological understanding of mega-events by using UEFA Euro 2020 as a case. Traditionally, sport mega-events have been staged in one or two countries. However, for the first time ever, 12 European countries shared the hosting rights for Euro 2020, which was postponed for a year following COVID-19. In global sports, this temporary shift was highly remarkable and the 12-country format’s implications raised a host of sociological questions. Drawing upon qualitative interviews, documentary analysis and media sources, this article examines this mega-event’s distinctive format and its broader implications. The article explores the socio-political conditions under which Euro 2020’s format became a reality and examines stakeholder outlooks on this event format. It is argued that the event’s format was considered to limit negative ‘legacies’ for host cities, yet the format was perceived to generate logistical and financial difficulties for potential mega-event consumers. In an epoch characterized by growing opposition to mega-event hosting, such findings are particularly important.

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“…Overall, this excellent book relies upon strong empirical foundations, and Boykoff's sharp arguments and well-written work make an extremely important, accessible and thought-provoking contribution to critical sport mega-event studies (i.e., Horne, 2007;Talbot, 2021). Further, it also extends current debates (Hill et al, 2018;Turner, 2020) on the dynamics of contemporary social movements in sports and the environments they operate within.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Indeed, this relates to what Müller (2015) dubs the "mega-event syndrome", as an idea which explains why mega-events tend to involve, inter alia, the overpromising of benefits (or "legacies"), the underestimation of event costs and public debt. The increased reluctance toward mega-event hosting rights, together with the rise of anti-Olympic activism, as a civic collective response to the massive spending and other social issues associated with sport mega-events (see Boykoff, 2016;Talbot, 2021), provide the main backdrops for Boykoff's 2020 book, NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo & Beyond. From this, the book advances new insights from largely unexplored sport mega-event cases.In his book, Boykoff, who himself was part of the United States Olympic soccer team in the 1990s (which he reflects upon in Chapter 4), critically examines local and transnational modes of anti-Olympic activism.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Book review: NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo & Beyond

Ludvigsen

2021

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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In contemporary societies, sport mega-events such as the Olympics are both celebrated and heavily criticized. The latter may be the reason why, over the past decades, global cities have become increasingly reluctant towards bidding for sport mega-events' hosting rights and the related costs, demands and risks that arrive with any successful Olympic hosting rights bid. The existing social scientific literature on sport mega-events has not uncommonly revolved around "legacies" that occasionally fail to materialize after the relevant event's lifecycle, or which translate into so-called "white elephants" (Horne, 2007;Preuss, 2007). Indeed, this relates to what Müller (2015) dubs the "mega-event syndrome", as an idea which explains why mega-events tend to involve, inter alia, the overpromising of benefits (or "legacies"), the underestimation of event costs and public debt. The increased reluctance toward mega-event hosting rights, together with the rise of anti-Olympic activism, as a civic collective response to the massive spending and other social issues associated with sport mega-events (see Boykoff, 2016;Talbot, 2021), provide the main backdrops for Boykoff's 2020 book, NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo & Beyond. From this, the book advances new insights from largely unexplored sport mega-event cases.In his book, Boykoff, who himself was part of the United States Olympic soccer team in the 1990s (which he reflects upon in Chapter 4), critically examines local and transnational modes of anti-Olympic activism. He does so primarily in the context of the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, whereas the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (now the be staged in 2021 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic) remain a central theme throughout the book. Based on more than 100 interviews with anti-Olympic activists, personal experiences and observations, existing research, Olympic archives, and media coverage, Boykoff critically engages with the key question of "why the Olympics are increasingly a flashpoint for social justice coalitions in the twenty-first century and how that's the case in Los Angeles as the city readies for the 2028 Games" (p. 7). Placed firmly within the context of the wider reenergized socialist activism in the United States, the campaign which Boykoff follows -NOlympics LA -seeks to stop the Olympic Games. And, for the NOlympics LA activists, Boykoff notes, "'NOOlympics Book review

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Talking about the ‘rotten fruits’ of Rio 2016: Framing mega-event legacies

Cited by 23 publications

References 50 publications

Land remediation, event spaces and the pursuit of Olympic legacy

Land remediation, event spaces and the pursuit of Olympic legacy

Mega-events, expansion and prospects: Perceptions of Euro 2020 and its 12-country hosting format

Book review: NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo & Beyond

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