London and Beijing have shown us that keeping an Olympic Games sporting legacy alive post-event does not come without some hurdles.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games has taken its final bow in a closing ceremony that organisers described as ‘marked by audacity, fraternity and emotion, in the heart of the Stade de France’. No doubt the people of France will feel an enormous sense of pride in the stage their capital city created for one of the world’s most notable sporting events, but the challenge now is how to keep the Games’ legacy alive long after the Olympic flame itself is extinguished.
Perhaps one of the most logical aspects to consider is, “What can a sporting event do for the sport participation legacy of the population?” It is often assumed that the scale and impact of the hosting of such seismic sporting events will serve as a motivational force, encouraging the public to either take up new sporting activities or enhance their current level of sport and physical activity participation.
Indeed, inspiring a generation to engage in sport and physical activity was a major focus of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and Beijing 2022 aimed to “inspire and motivate a population of 300 million in China to take part in winter sports”. For the Paris 2024 Olympics, phrases such as “turn the inspiration of the Games into the participation of millions in sport and healthy, active living” were featured in the candidacy document.
“And while an event as grand as the Olympics does hold the power to inspire and evoke strong feelings – particularly in those who watch the games – we should not overestimate the ripple effect of these ‘inspirational feelings’…Our series of international collaboration research efforts into the impact of sport participation on the populations of former Olympic Games’ host cities – namely London and Beijing – suggests that promoting sport participation through event hosting, especially sustainable participation, is a significantly challenging task.”
–Dr Shushu Chen, Associate Professor in Sport Policy and Management at the University of Birmingham, and Professor Xiaoyan Xing, Capital University of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing, China.
And while an event as grand as the Olympics does hold the power to inspire and evoke strong feelings – particularly in those who watch the games – we should not overestimate the ripple effect of these ‘inspirational feelings’.
Our series of international collaboration research efforts into the impact of sport participation on the populations of former Olympic Games’ host cities – namely London and Beijing – suggests that promoting sport participation through event hosting, especially sustainable participation, is a significantly challenging task. For example, we’ve recorded a clear distinction between “inspirational feelings” and “inspirational effects”. Whilst inspirational feelings have persisted for years among local residents of London and Beijing after the hosting of their Olympic Games, the effects of such feelings on the effects of such feelings on sport participation can vary widely.
The hosting of the Olympics seemed to have a lasting impact on the behaviour of Beijing residents but not so much for Londoners. Moreover, the Olympic impact was not the only factor that could explain changes in sport participation; other factors such as ‘health awareness’, ‘attitude towards sport’, ‘sport confidence’ , and ‘influence of other sporting events’ often play a larger role.
Essentially, the public’s perceived inspirational feelings about the Olympics is not equivalent to the public achieving the inspirational effects in their sports event behaviours. So, how can inspirational feelings be transformed into inspirational effects? Our most recent longitudinal intervention study, which began in 2021, seems to have the answer.
We found that those who had immersive inspirational experiences during the event i.e., the Games volunteers, combined with a (which served the purpose of reminding the volunteers of the inspirational feelings by incorporating the visuals from the 2022 Olympics while consistently feeding them sport participation tips tailored to their initial participation stage), have significantly increased their participation level compared to pre-event levels. Differing from previous findings that hosting major events was more likely to be effective for those already participating in sport, we revealed that it also works within groups who had low levels of physical activity before the Games.
This novel finding is significant but comes with a caveat as volunteers are a very special yet small group who had immersive inspirational experiences. As France is about to discover, hosting a successful sporting event is only the first step. Its inspirational influence may still occur, but with conditions, and the process from experiencing inspirational stimuli to achieving inspirational effects – especially across the broader population in order to enhance overall sports participation – is complex, necessitating strategic planning and leveraging.
Looking ahead to Los Angeles and its hosting of the 2028 Olympic Games, they would do well to apply such leveraging efforts even before the commencement of the Games. These efforts should not only aim to elevate and sustain the inspirational feelings once the Games have come to a close but also consider mobilising resources to strategically address other behavioural influencing factors, ranging from intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, and community to policy levels, that may hinder positive behavioural change.
Dr Shushu Chen, Associate Professor in Sport Policy and Management at the University of Birmingham, and Professor Xiaoyan Xing, Capital University of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing, China.
