In the short term, the ‘warned-off’ effect that occurs in every summer Olympic Games host city seemed very noticeable in central London, with The Financial Times remarking how empty hotel beds, theatre seats and West End shops created a ‘ghost town.’ It suggested the 100,000 Games visitors were not spending what the normal 300,000 tourists do, and British Retail Consortium figures suggested that they were down 0.4 per cent on 2011. This effect occurs during every Olympics, but it was perhaps more noticeable in London – the world’s largest retail and theatre concentration. It’s important for future Games planning to drill into the data and to see whether (and how much) visitors spend before they go home. Impact on participation No summer Games has produced an increase in sports participation. Indeed, five years after the Athens 2004 Games, participation in Greece had fallen below the pre-Games level. Research into the ‘soft legacy’ of the 2004 Athens Olympics by Dr Sakis Pappous, of the University of Kent’s Centre for Sport Studies, shows that the Athens Olympics failed to spark a sustained increase in people taking part in a sport or other exercise activity. (For more information and data on the impact of the Olympic Games on participation, see Coalter, 2004; McCartney et al, 2010). Sport England’s huge Active People survey showed a small increase in participation three months before the London event after two years of decline, which can be attributed to the recession. The final data on the sixth Active People survey – covering 2011-12 – suggests that there has been a modest increase in participation in the last year, notably by women, people in the upper social groups and those with a disability. The sports that have the most impressive increases in participation levels were cycling, athletics, swimming and tennis. Given the recession’s length and severity, it seems unlikely that this increase will be any better sustained than the small annual surge of demand for tennis courts immediately after Wimbledon. London’s Legacy London 2012 delivered a great spectacle and enthralling festival of sport, as many of us in the business knew it would. What follows for legacy? 1. Budgets Usually governments cut sports budgets after the Olympics, on the dubious argument that ‘you’ve had your turn now it’s somebody else’s.’ I agree with Lord Moynihan that if the coalition wants a sporting and anti-obesity legacy, it should not do so this time. 2. Schools Schools need better support, such as proper training for primary teachers of PE, instead of relying on schools taking up voluntary and self-funded training offered by the Youth Sport Trust. They also need the manpower and co-ordination that Michael Gove cut when he abolished the Youth Sport Strategy in 2009 – one of the worst decisions of the coalition. He also needs to support girls better. Many of them dislike competition which is at the core of his rather outdated, public-school policy for school sport. Also, disabled pupils still get a poor choice of activities and inadequate trained support. Moreover, the Sport and Recreation Alliance criticised the new English Baccalaureat for sidelining PE, like the arts, as a non-core subject. 3. For those with learning difficulties Many people with learning difficulties are excellent athletes, as the Special Olympics show. HMG should consider pressing the International Paralympic Committee to take in this large group who are under-recognised and under provided for across the world. 4. For those with disabilities After an even more successful Paralympics than expected, with 120 medals and 2.7m ticket sales covering the £45m running costs and such enthusiasm that in closing the Games, Lord Coe said it had changed how we see disability, will the legacy be sustained? Despite a modest £2m contribution from the Legacy Fund, we are now left with the coalition’s proposed cuts in Disability Allowances, the banning of disabled people by some commercial fitness centres and the ignorance of sports clubs which declare no discrimination, but whose physical resources, knowledge and attitudes have never been tested by a disabled person’s application. 5. Doctors and medics Many GPs do not know about the latest physical activity guidelines, so the medical profession needs to improve initial and in-service training for GPs. 6. The proposed National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine This is to be established in the Olympic Park, but only the initial capital has been found, and the research councils are saying it will have to compete with long-established biomedical centres for revenue; this is giving a legacy with one hand and taking it with the other. The centre needs an initial endowment of staff and equipment from government and the research councils if it is to help elite athletes before the Rio Games and the general population in the foreseeable future. 7. Joined up government First, the recent Select Committee on Science and Technology commented dryly “we find it quite remarkable that DCMS is not concerned with the health benefits of sport”: Minister Hugh Robertson had said DCMS is “not concerned with the bigger drive on the nation’s health”. This is purblind so far as the 2012 legacy is concerned, and ignores the experience of Finland, the country his predecessors chose as a model, where government departments and agencies for exercise, health and nutrition have worked hand-in-hand for 30 years, to turn round that nation’s health. Second, it would cost government nothing to give English and Welsh local authorities a duty to provide sport and recreation like that of their Scottish counterparts, but it would signal the importance of this work, help them work with health agencies and help the hard-pressed professionals to make the best of their budgets and programmes. At present, sport and leisure are taking above-average cuts, with which Mr Robertson has concurred and not fought. Some local legacy! Third, the government should work with the new National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine to produce a national sports medicine strategy. Fourth, it should implement its 2002 intention (DCMS/Strategy Unit) to institute a well-funded and sustained social marketing strategy – more robust than the cuddly Change4Life programme. The need is to find an incentive that will get sedentary people active. Conclusions The enthusiasm of eight thousand torch carriers, 8.8 million ticket buyers and the thousands who lined cycle and running routes and went into Hyde Park, local parks and pubs to celebrate medal winning could fade in the cold light of recession. Legacy, as Seb Coe said, is as much hard work as the initial planning, and without vigorous leadership, it could soon be forgotten.
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