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2012 Games 'must encourage more people to take up sport'
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent24 Jul 2008
The 2012 Olympics are failing to get people involved in sport, a report warned today.
MPs said there was no evidence that the prospect of the London games was encouraging more to become active and fitter - and said urgent work was needed to secure the "sports legacy".
Sports officials also spoke today of their concern at the failure of the London games to engage people in grassroots sport.
The head of the British Olympic Association urged the Government to "grasp the nettle" of delivering a legacy.
Chairman Lord Moynihan said "a lot of fine words" had not been matched by extra funding, improved facilities, school sports and clear targets to boost participation on the back of 2012.
He said: "We need to push very hard in the interests of sports legacy from these Games. The challenge for us as a host nation is to make sure there is a serious and long-lasting sports legacy for the kids of this country. I don't believe that we have grasped the nettle in that context.
"We have focused on the Olympic Park as a regeneration project and that is commendable but equally it is important that sport should benefit in facilities, in investment, in participation and in the number of hours in school.
"There are a lot of fine words out there but we need to deliver a legacy of being host nation in 2012."
His warning came as the Commons Public Accounts Committee warned ministers that the aim of Britain coming fourth in the 2012 medals table could distract from the Government target of getting two million more people involved in sport by 2012.
The legacy plan helped convince the International Olympic Committee to vote for London as hosts.
The PAC report made several recommendations to prevent the intended legacy becoming a flop. It said:
• Britain's 1,400 lottery-funded athletes should do more to promote grassroots sport.
• a government working group should be set up to analyse the chances of a grassroots legacy.
• the quango UK Sport should fund a study towards ensuring Olympic sports such as rowing, sailing and equestrian sports are viewed as less elitist.
Lack of facilities was also identified as a "barrier" to achieving the legacy. London suffered a chronic shortage of some facilities, especially in diving where 90 per cent of boards had been closed off by health and safety inspectors.
The PAC report Preparing For Sporting Success At London 2012 concentrated on the role of elite sports agency UK Sport which will receive £700 million towards 2012 medal success.
The report states: "There is a risk that, unless the activities of a wide range of public, private and voluntary bodies are properly co-ordinated, the focus on winning medals could distract the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's attention from encouraging ordinary people to participate.
"There is no clear evidence that elite sporting achievement influences people to take up sport in the long term, and Olympic medalists in certain sports such as rowing and equestrianism do not represent the make-up of the wider population, with a disproportionate number coming from privileged backgrounds."
The biggest single initiative to encourage participation has been free swimming for the over-60s, which is set to cost £140 million.
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell told MPs in a statement: "In June this year we published the Legacy Action Plan which sets out the long-term benefits we hope to stimulate through hosting the Olympic and Paralympic games in 2012, and how we plan to achieve them. This is unprecedented as no other host city has ever been at this stage of planning - nor so committed to a broad and sustainable legacy - this early in preparations."
Reader views (8)
Why be surprised,despite being great athletic endeavours how much fun is there in diving,or swimming back and forth alone etc. A sport that many people enjoy participating in such as cricket is left out of the Olympics for sports that will always have niche participation.We shopuld support Cricket2012Games petition to get cricket in the Olympics
- Lloyd, ny,usa, 29/09/2008 03:11
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Why?
- Pat, Essex, 29/09/2008 02:11
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I'm not a sports enthusiast, but I do keep fit by walking eight miles, and cycling on an exercise bike at home for 10 minutes a day. Don't need the Olympics to encourage me to do that!
- Caroline G, Essex, UK, 29/09/2008 02:11
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It was foolish to expect people to take up sport just because an event they will be watching on television happens to be held in the UK. After all, Seb Coe let the cat out of the bag about the fallacy of this argument by boasting that he had been inspired by the Olympics - in MEXICO. The Olympics are a giant waste of money, and we should gift them to Paris if the cost is not too high (say less than £5 billion). As wise people pointed out at the time of the bid, the way to boost participation in sport is to invest in the grass roots, especially in state schools, where the level of PE provision is a scandal now, and is set to remain so in 2012 and beyond. The Olympics are a giant over-hyped vanity project. If anything they will alienate people from sport. I for one am already sick of the hype and the hectoring orders to be excited. Excited? I'm disgusted, and the more publicity the Olympics get, the more disgusted I will become.
- Oliver Chettle, Bedford, 29/09/2008 02:11
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How can people be so despondent about it all? Surely, we all know that our leaders will be superbly capable of out-doing Peking's opening ceremony and ensuring that Great Britain gains its fair share of golds, won't it? Apparently, the special VIP route to 2012 is being given up and the money diverted to a state-of-the-art Olympics College, to foster medal winners. Oh ye of little faith!
- John Problem, Hackney Wick, London, UK, 29/09/2008 02:11
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So Kaz is upset to be told what has been found in Olympics after Olympics and decides to abuse the messengers. Oliver quite sensibly points out that spending money grassroots sport will have more impact on sport participation. The Olympics has taken money away from grassroots sport and from children's sport. Tom points out that stadiums lie empty after Olympics. Why get annoyed? It just happens to be true. No wonder it is so difficult to have a sensible discussion when perfectly reasonable statements backed up by evidence are just rudely dismissed.
- Julian Cheyne, London, UK, 29/09/2008 02:11
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I am so sick or reading comments like Oliver Chettle's. The Olympics will be simply wonderful for London and its youngsters. My four year old daughter is already watching the games in Beijing and she has expressed interest in swimming and gymnastics, and loved watching the Diving. I cannot wait for 2012 when I can take her to see these sports live. I am sure it will encourage people particularly children to take up sports. The Olympics will create a buzz in London rarely seen in recent times and it WILL be a success despite the miserable people such as Oliver. Its about time London staged the games - other smaller cities such as Barcelona, Atlanta and Athens have successfully held the games so why can't London? Its no wonder many non Brits think the British are miserable, when all we get are party poopers like Oliver and Tom who I suggest go to the back of their gardens and tinker around in the little sheds in 2012 as people like them will not be welcome! Bring on 2012 I say!
- Kaz, London UK, 29/09/2008 02:11
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Most of the facilities - stadiums etc, built for the last two Olympics in Sydney and Athens lie unused and in disrepair. Why should we expect the UK to be any different?
- Tom Williams, Oxford, 29/09/2008 02:11
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