Are mega-events a solution to address physical inactivity? Interrogating the London 2012 Paralympic sport participation legacies among people with disabilities

Understanding why non-active people with disabilities have not participated in more sport since the London 2012 Paralympic Games is the focus of this paper. This research reviews the constraints preventing people with disabilities from participating in more sport, and the role the London 2012 Paralympic Games plays in this. Eighty-one people with disabilities in England who are non-active completed an online questionnaire exploring their constraints to participating in more sport. The data suggests attitudes towards the London 2012 Paralympic Games were not an important reason for the lack of sport participation: instead, systemic and social barriers are more constraining to participation in more sport. A factor analysis identified four components that constrain non-active people with disabilities: sport provision; economic; unawareness of how to include people with disabilities in sporting activities; and access to sport participation opportunities. The four components explained 72.93% of the total variance. It is recommended mega sporting events are not used as a policy intervention to increase sport participation of people with disabilities, as this does not account for constraining social and systemic barriers to sports participation. Instead, bottom-up solutions designed and managed in conjunction with people with disabilities may be more effective

A case study investigating the impact of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on participation in two non-traditional English sports, Judo and Fencing.

The hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOPG) brought with it detailed legacy plans aiming to ‘Inspire a Generation’. The idea that hosting a sports mega-event will encourage the host population to engage in more physical activity is commonly used by governments to justify the large investments they make. The aim of this research paper was to investigate the impact that hosting the 2012 Games had on grass-root sports participation within the host nation. This paper focuses on two non-traditional English sports, Fencing and Judo and investigated the changes in mass sports participation. The membership rate analysis of our sample highlighted an overall increase in participation between 2007 and 2013, in both Judo and Fencing. The data gathered from the interviews with the head office staff at the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and local club coaches suggested that the grass-root participation programmes were the most effective way of increasing participation, rather than the reliance, solely on the inspiration effect from hosting the LOPG itself. The study highlighted the importance of strengthening communication between local voluntary clubs and the NGB, to ensure sports could promote themselves and capitalise on this global sporting phenomenon, which provided unprecedented media coverage and opportunities for these non-traditional sports. This case study provides initial results relating to the effect that a major international multi-sport event can have in the development of non-traditional sports in the host population, in terms of membership variations, participation programmes and organisational dynamics

Inclusion through sport: A critical view on paralympic legacy from a historical perspective

Through its commitment to universalism, the inclusion of disabled people has become an increasingly prominent objective of the Paralympic Games. To achieve this, the organisers rely on the notion of legacy, which refers to the expected effects of major sporting events on host countries. This notion was initially founded on material aspects and then took an interest in certain intangible sides that were spotted within the organiser’s goals and studied in literature. Building on the historical literature about the Paralympic movement’s institutionalization, this article shows that this institutionalization took place in a context of tension between disabled communities, depending on their proximity to the Olympic model. What is the impact of this historical legacy in terms of inclusion of the greater number? By shedding light on the historical perspective of the obstacles encountered in the creation of an ‘all-disabilities’ sporting event, this article aims to discuss and challenge the current perspective on the inclusive legacy of the Paralympic Games

The Mediation of Emotions in Sport Events: A Case Study in Badminton

This study examines the relationships between functional quality, outcome quality, satisfaction, and future intentions, influenced by emotions, of spectators who attended the 2018 European Badminton Championships. The population studied was 686 spectators. The mean age was 36.08 ± 14.15 years, 39.1% were females, and 66.1% were local resident spectators. The results allow to affirm that functional quality and outcome quality have an impact on satisfaction, either directly or indirectly through emotions. In the same way, it has been possible to observe the relationship between satisfaction and future intentions of the spectators. These results help understand the factors that predict the loyalty of spectators of sports events of badminton

Leveraging the sport participation legacy of the London 2012 Olympics: Senior managers’ perceptions

The purpose of this study was to understand how a sports mega event (SME) was leveraged to try and increase participation, through the investigation of national governing bodies (NGBs) opinions and atti- tudes. Critical realism (CR) was used as a tool to aid understanding of leveraging and legacy conceptualisation, through an empirical investiga- tion. An extensive, mixed method online survey was conducted post London 2012 with senior staff members of NGBs, the main delivery agent chosen to support the participation initiatives associated with the London 2012 Olympics. This research provides valuable findings surrounding the use of CR as a tool to investigate legacy creation, whilst at the same time offering insights to enhance the policy implementation process within the sports development sector. The importance of com- munication, competitive nature of sports system, media, club engage- ment, organisational capacity and monitoring and evaluation were highlighted, which provided useful insights into the multidimensional constructs that can aid future leveraging strategies prior to hosting SMEs

Quality of the Physical Education Teacher's Instruction in the Perspective of Self-Determination.

The teacher's instructions in physical education class have important implications for the psychological well-being of their students. The aim of this study was to analyze, under the postulates of the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a model with the following sequence: the perception of the quality of the instructions (task presentation, amount of corrective feedback, and its legitimate perception) generated by the physical education teacher, the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs and the subjective vitality in young students. The participants were 890 students (462 males and 428 females) of primary level from the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Mexico, between ages 11 and 13 (M = 11.36; SD = 0.49). The structural equation modeling showed positive and significant associations in all model interrelations, that is, task presentation and the amount of corrective feedback (B = 0.88, p < 0.001), and this in turn with legitimate perception (B = 0.81, p < 0.001); the legitimate perception of feedback and the satisfaction of the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (B = 0.63, p < 0.001; B = 0.90, p < 0.001; B = 1.01, p < 0.001, respectively); finally, the satisfaction of the three psychological needs and the subjective vitality (B = 0.12, p < 0.01; B = 0.43, p < 0.001; B = 0.24, p < 0.001, respectively). Therefore, the importance of a quality task presentation, as well as providing corrective feedback based on support for autonomy, is evident, so that students perceive it legitimately and thus facilitate the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs and in consequence, indicators of psychological well-being such as subjective vitality

La representación mediática del deporte adaptado a la discapacidad en los medios de comunicación

Los medios de comunicación ejercen una influencia considerable sobre la imagen de las personas con discapacidad. Mediante este estudio queríamos realizar una exploración preliminar de la cobertura fotográfica de la prensa europea durante los Juegos Paralímpicos del 2000 y 2004. Los diarios aquí estudiados ofrecen unas imágenes incluyentes, que participan en un proceso de desestigmatización de las personas con discapacidad. No obstante una parte de la presente tipología preliminar incluye también imágenes que no alteran la imagen estereotipada acerca de la/s discapacidad/es

Cloud Providers Viability: How to Address it from an IT and Legal Perspective?

A major part of the commercial Internet is moving towards a cloud paradigm. This phenomenon has a drastic impact on the organizational structures of enterprises and introduces new challenges that must be properly addressed to avoid major setbacks. One such challenge is that of cloud provider viability, that is, the reasonable certainty that the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) will not go out of business, either by filing for bankruptcy or by simply shutting down operations, thus leaving its customers stranded without an infrastructure and, depending on the type of cloud service used, even without their applications or data. This article attempts to address the issue of cloud provider viability, proposing some ways of mitigating the problem both from a technical and from a legal perspective

The Role of Voluntary Sport Organisations in Leveraging the London 2012 Sport Participation Legacy

This study aimed to understand the perceptions of national Voluntary Sport Organisations (VSOs) managers towards a mega sports event and identify the components they felt enhanced or inhibited their organisations capacity to implement a sport participation legacy. London 2012 was the first Olympic Games to explicitly attempt to deliver this type of legacy, and an exploratory, online mixed-method survey examined the perceptions of 105 senior managers from 37 VSOs, post-event. Principal Component Analysis identified four distinct factors: ‘objectives, standards & resources’, ‘event capitalisation & opportunities’, ‘monitoring & evaluation’ and ‘club engagement & implementation’, explaining 51.5% of the variance. Also, relevant organisational characteristics such as sport type, funding and sport size were examined to investigate the influence this had on their capacity. From these findings, the main recommendations are that future mega sport event hosts should: 1) Engage and consult with multiple stakeholders to engender sustained sport participation. 2) Set clear and monitorable objectives. 3) Establish funding and support mechanisms relevant to each sport. 4) Engage non-competing sports in the leveraging process. 5) Finally, event organisers should try to ensure personnel consistency