Sport Participation and Olympic Legacies: A Comparative Study

This book examines claims that the Olympic Games are a vehicle to inspire and increase mass sport participation. It focuses on the mass sport participation legacy of the most recent hosts of the summer Olympics, including Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, Rio, and Tokyo.

It is organised by host city/country and applies an analytical framework to each, addressing the socio-political context that shapes sport policy, the key changes in sport policy, the structure and governance of community sport, the Olympic and Paralympic legacy, and the changes in mass sport participation before, during, and after the Games.

The book is important reading for students, researchers, and policymakers working in sport governance, sport development or management, and the sport policy sector.

Spencer Harris is Associate Professor of Sport Management at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, USA.

Mathew Dowling is Senior Lecturer in the Cambridge Centre for Sport & Exercise Sciences, at Anglia Ruskin University, UK.