Olympic Legacy

2012 London Olympic Games Bid
The Manchester Commonwealth Games showed what a successful major sporting event can do for a city and the nation. There is little doubt that the success of the Games played a major part in the Government’s recent decision to bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for London.

Sport England has welcomed the Government’s proposal to bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, believing that the time is right to keep sport at the top of the national and political agenda and to highlight its numerous benefits.

In the submission provided to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Select Committee Inquiry, Sport England has highlighted the importance of legacy planning, as witnessed by the Manchester Commonwealth Games. This extract is taken from the submission:

‘A London Olympics could prove to be an important catalyst for sport in England. But for this to happen, the legacy of a London Olympics – the facilities, the volunteers, the broader infrastructure, and the passion and interest created – must be carefully woven into a much broader strategy for sport encompassing the whole of England. The legacy of a London Olympics must outlast the two weeks of the actual Games and be felt for many years both before and after 2012.

Legacy of the Manchester Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games held in Manchester – to which Sport England provided £165m – demonstrated the positive impact mega sports events can have on engendering domestic interest in sport, and on boosting sports participation and volunteering in sport.

Manchester 2002 delivered a significant sporting legacy for the people of the North West. A London Olympics, given the size and magnitude of the event, can make a significant contribution to the people of the South East and beyond. But it is imperative that relevant legacy planning for a London Olympics is started at the earliest possible stage.’

In a recent statement, Roger Draper, Chief Executive of Sport England, said:

“The Commonwealth Games also almost single-handedly salvaged the reputation of Britain as a country that can stage major sports events. It blew away some of the cobwebs of Wembley, Picketts Lock and the Dome,” said Roger Draper. “It was an excellent catalyst for London’s Olympic bid. A lot of lessons have been learned from Manchester which need to be put in place for London.” ‘How the Games lit up a bright and glorious future’, The Guardian, Saturday August 2, 2003