Physical inactivity has been described as a global pandemic that causes a substantial burden due to non-communicable diseases, which, in 2013, led to 5·3 million deaths and cost international $ (INT$) 53·8 billion.1, 2 The WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030 suggests that best-practice communication strategies linked with community-based programmes and mass-participation initiatives can be important contributors to increasing physical activity in populations.3 The Olympic Games are the pinnacle of human performance and an important global event to unite people from around the world through a shared passion for sport. The Olympic spirit of Pierre de Coubertin was originally described as the notion of taking part (rather than only focusing on elitism and obtaining medals), and this notion provides a public health leverage point for fostering community participation in sports and physical activity.4 The Olympic Games represent an important opportunity to promote population-level physical activity and, in this Series paper, we provide an overview of the available evidence.
Key messages
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The Olympic Games provide an opportunity to promote physical activity and sport for the whole host population and to realise health, sport, and education benefits for cities and for mitigating climate change
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Analysis of Olympic Games bid and planning documents from host cities shows frequent mention of the need for a sport or physical activity legacy
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There is some evidence of community interest in sport and physical activity stimulated by the Olympic Games
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A review of population physical activity and sports data shows little change in prevalence in participation immediately before or after Olympic Games since 1996
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Given the WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity suggestion that mass events can contribute to increasing population physical activity, the Olympic Games represent an unrealised opportunity to improve global health
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Careful pre-Olympic Games and peri-Olympic Games partnerships between the local organising committee, the International Olympic Committee, and national and regional public health agencies are needed to implement community physical activity and sports programmes to realise this legacy
Planning for the Olympic Games includes consideration of legacies “to the host community and country that will benefit their inhabitants for many years to come”.5 The term legacy was first used in the Melbourne bid for the 1956 Summer Games.6 Typically, legacies of the Olympic Games have led to improved health services, control of communicable diseases, improved air quality and environmental health, improved urban health and regeneration, and, sometimes, improved transportation systems.5, 7
There is untapped potential to use mass events to promote health behaviour changes that reduce non-communicable disease risk, and the Olympic Games offer an opportunity for increasing physical activity from a public health perspective.7 Aspirational public health goals from past Olympic Games have sought to promote health through non-smoking and healthy food and beverage services.5, 8, 9 The promise of a physical activity and sports participation legacy is not well evidenced.10, 11, 12 Although the Olympic Games contribute to sports facilities, promote sports education, and foster elite sports training programmes,13 these effects only reach high-level athletes and are different to legacies that promote health-enhancing physical activity and sport at the population level.
One mechanism through which Olympic elite sports are thought to increase population-level physical activity and sports participation is through the alleged trickle-down effect, in which elite sports participation is thought to lead to increased community interest and more people engaging in sport and physical activity. However, there is no evidence supporting this trickle-down effect.14 The potential for the Olympic Games to promote population health has not been realised.
In this Series paper, we aimed to provide a summary of the evidence of population physical activity participation after the Olympic Games by reviewing pre-Olympic bid documents and identifying thematic mentions of physical activity and community sports participation, examining participation in physical activity and sport around the Olympic Games period in host countries, and exploring the temporal trends of population-level interest in exercise using the London 2012 Olympic Games as a case study. The first part of this legacy inquiry involved an audit of Olympic bid and policy documents regarding physical activity and community sport. For the second part, we extracted existing and publicly available physical activity or sports participation population data from the host region or country to assess prevalence before and after the Olympic Games. For the third part, we examined community searching behaviour on the Google Trends platform before and after the London 2012 Olympic Games, with time-series modelling of the search terms “exercise” and “Olympics” to assess the temporal relationships between community interest in these topics and the Olympic Games.