The meta-evaluation of the sports participation impact and legacy of the London 2012 Games : Methodological implications

The London 2012 Games were subject to the most substantial evaluation of any of the Olympic Games, or indeed any other sporting event, to date, in the form of a meta-evaluation. Meta-evaluations evaluate the collective lessons learned from smaller individual evaluation studies and consist of two principal elements. The first reports a synthesis of the results of the evaluations of individual programs and projects, and of national participation data; and the second consists of an evaluation of the rigour of the methods adopted in project and program evaluation and national evaluation studies, and of the conclusions drawn The paper addresses one of the high-profile legacy goals associated with the 2012 Games, increased sports participation, and seeks to explain the disjunction between national level participation data indicating little or no increase in participation and programme or project data suggesting significant increases, and thu

Athlete development, athlete rights and athlete welfare: a European Union perspective

The issue of athlete ‘dual careers’ in elite sport and education or work has received increasing attention over recent years from a whole range of stakeholders. In particular the European Commission has engaged in research and dialogue with a range of stakeholders over the past decade, fuelled in part by the development of a ‘soft’ competence in sport in Article 165 of the Treaty of Lisbon which came into effect in December 2009. This paper traces the nature of the European Union’s interest in this policy issue and in particular the rationale for, and the manner of, EU involvement. Two principal rationales exist for the protection of athletes’ access to education and vocational training, namely (a) a rights-based discourse in which athletes are seen to be denied access to education and vocational training which are protected for other workers or citizens; and (b) a performance-based discourse in which the athlete’s ability to perform in athletic terms is enhanced by virtue of their access to educational opportunities. The paper reviews the relevance of these two rationales, and argues that although the EU engagement with dual careers might rest not on a sports competence but on prior competences relating to workers’ rights and the protection of minors, the identifying of a performance rationale for supporting dual careers may be important in terms of engaging coaches and administrators

Sport, Muslim identities and cultures in the UK, an emerging policy issue: case studies of Leicester and Birmingham

An understanding of diversity and its implications for policy is critical to those charged with delivering sporting services in culturally plural societies. This paper reports a research project which aimed to examine how, on the one hand, Muslims in two specific local contexts in the UK (Leicester in the East Midlands; Birmingham in the West Midlands) make sense of the relationship between their religious (Islamic) identities and sporting interests and, on the other, how local policy makers perceived and responded to the sporting needs of these Muslim communities. According to the 2001 census, Leicester and Birmingham represent, respectively, one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Britain and the domicile for one-third of the Muslim population in Britain. Interviews were undertaken with representatives of Muslim organizations, governmental and quasi-governmental sporting organizations, in both cities. Critical Discourse Analysis of interviewees’ responses reveal pluralistic views on a range of issues such as: the ‘‘(un)suitability’’ of the environment/space provided for, or accessed by, Muslims to practise sport; funding; gender equity; equity and social inclusion agenda versus cultural and religious diversities; and a resistance (on the part of policy makers) to target provision at faith groups

Women in management and leadership in the Olympic movement in Muslim majority countries: an empirical evaluation of Huntington's clash of civilisations typology

This article seeks to evaluate whether there are differences between Samuel Huntington’s ‘civilisational groups’ of countries in terms of women’s leadership of Olympic organisations. The article draws on two questionnaire surveys which evaluate the electoral practices and outcomes of Olympic bodies (i.e. National Olympic Committees and International Federations) relating to gender equity and governance, with a specific intention to compare the role of women in the leadership of such bodies between Islamic societies and non-Islamic contexts. The vehicle for analysing the data employs Huntington’s well-known but controversial civilisational typology which identifies nine major cultural civilisational groups (including Western and Islamic states). This allows the authors to explore the extent to which differences may exist between Western and Islamic societies and others, with regard to women’s roles in leadership and governance of Olympic bodies. Differences between Muslim, and other religious groupings on the one hand and secular liberal democratic groupings on the other, are often assumed to reflect the distinction between tradition and modernity, and sport is seen in the literature in large part as a product of modernity. However, results of the statistical analysis of women’s roles in senior positions in NOCs in particular, do not reflect Western ‘superiority’ in terms of women’s representation. This article thus casts doubt on the appropriateness of considering the Islamic norm as traditional, and the Western norm as modern

Developing culturally specific tools for the evaluation of good governance in diverse national contexts: a case study of the National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran

One of the key features of the Olympic movement is its universalistic appeal, particularly in the sense that it has sought to establish itself as a platform for universal interaction and promotion of universal values. In this paper, we consider the nature, feasibility, and implications of the IOC's promotion of its universalist position in terms of the ethical standards it promotes in relation to universal principles of good governance. A major problem in this respect is the culturally diverse set of constituencies that are incorporated within the Olympic movement, such that the imposition of ‘one size fits all’ policies may be impractical and in many instances undesirable. The authors of this paper therefore argue that although universal agreement is often impractical, general agreement may often be established. The paper therefore presents an approach to balancing centrally promoted principles of good governance with local preferences in terms of the weighting to be given to particular values within the operationalization of good governance. This approach, based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process technique, developed by Thomas Saaty and widely employed in decision-making with regard to evaluating and weighting alternatives, is introduced here in the context of the evaluation of National Sport Federations in Iran. The paper highlights ways in which this technique allows for the expression of local priorities within the general framework of good governance principles in ways which satisfied both global and local priorities. In effect, it is a practical example of what Robertson has termed glocalization. The paper concludes by applying this framework to an evaluation of the National Federation (NF) of Football in Iran as an example of how this technique will be used for the purposes of ranking NFs in terms of performance with respect to elements of good governance which will inform both self-assessment by the NF and the decision-making process for allocation of funds by government to NFs in Iran in the future

Elite athletes and university education in Europe: a review of policy and practice in higher education in the European Union Member States

This article provides an analysis of the ways in which European Union Member States have sought to address the educational needs of elite young sportspersons. Drawing on fieldwork by 25 research teams led by the authors and undertaken on behalf of the European Commission, it reflects the European Union's increasing concern with protection of the rights of young athletes. Our focus in this paper is on higher education and its adaptation to accommodate the delivery of education to elite athletes. The review of policy descriptions undertaken highlighted three principal categories of policy initiative within the university sector namely the development of academic services, elite sporting provision, and post-athletic career preparation. The findings of the study underlined the variability of response in national systems to the demands placed on elite young sportspersons. This has been more broadly linked to the relationship between general welfare ideologies in nation states, and the positions adopted in relation to education of their young athletes. We characterise these positions in a four-fold typology: (i) a state-centric provision backed by legislation, (ii) the state as a facilitator fostering formal agreements between educational and sporting bodies, (iii) National Federations / Sports Institutes as facilitator / mediator engaging directly in negotiation with educational bodies on behalf of the individual athlete, and (iv) a 'laisser faire' approach where there are no formal structures in place. Crucial to an evaluation of the systems summarised in the typology is an understanding of what these policy systems are seeking to achieve. This may be expressed in terms of a balance between the roles, rights and responsibilities of the main stakeholders including the athlete, the university, the Member State and the European Union

Olympic engagement and the use of Olympic Solidarity programmes by Gulf Cooperation Council states

This paper seeks to address the extent to which Olympic Solidarity (OS) funding patterns are consistent with the organisation's explicit mission, namely to serve the interests of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and in particular those in greatest need. In addition, the paper reviews the extent to which Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have been able to avail themselves of such resources. While OS funding has tended at the level of the World Programme, to reflect a tendency to favour NOCs from less affluent economies, this tendency towards progressive funding has been weakening and to some extent reversed, since the mid-2000s. Funding of GCC states has tended to be well below that of other NOCs of comparable dimensions, reflecting the fact that Gulf States have not followed a ‘linear’ path to ‘modernity’ in sport. Such a linear path might be characterised as in an initial concern with growing participation, improving governance (through issues such as women's role in sport) and enhancing performance, but GCC states have instead focused on elements of a what might be characterised as a post-modern approach in the form of hosting of major events and the celebration of spectacle, and thus drawing relatively modestly on OS resources

Gendered identities in self-descriptions of electoral candidates in a French National Sport Federation

The aim of this study was to evaluate ways in which male and female candidates for election to the Executive Committee of a National Sport Federation (NSF) for the period 2004–2008 defined themselves in their candidate self descriptions (CSD). Forty-one statements of candidates were subjected to textual data analysis (using ALCESTE software). Four lexical classes were identified, and the demographic profiles of the authors contrasted. The classes identified were subsequently subjected to correspondence analysis which identified two factors explaining 76.6% of total variance, reflecting respectively, gendered roles (first factor) and presence/absence of previous national level experience (second factor). Findings provide a discursive perspective on the construction of gendered roles in a sporting organisation

The lived experience of sex integrated sport and the construction of athlete identity within the Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian disciplines

Equestrian sport is not subjected to the dominant binary sex segregation of most sports and therefore provides a unique opportunity to review how athlete ‘identity’ is constructed and framed within a sex integrated sporting experience. This research draws on an ethnographic evaluation of the Olympic and Paralympic experience of the British Equestrian Team. A total of 28 interviews were conducted with riders, performance managers and support staff with transcripts subjected to Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA). Results show clear constructs of identity, such ‘them and us’, ‘horsey’, and ‘discipline specific’, with a noted absence of gender in the way interviewees describe themselves and others within the sport. Furthermore, in their accounts of their lives there is a lack of salience of gender with regards to their identity as sports persons. The paper considers the implications of this phenomenon for a claim that equestrian sport might be described from a participant’s perspective as gender neutral

The perceived importance of sport management competencies by academics and practitioners in the cultural/industrial context of Taiwan

The study of management competencies and their application in the field of sport management has an established tradition. It is only relatively recently however that concern to consider the culturally specific context of competency evaluation has developed in the mainstream management literature and little work has been developed in the sport management field to address cultural specificity in respect of competencies. In addition the distinction between those competencies valued by sport management educators and by sport management practitioners is a relatively neglected topic. This study evaluates the perceptions of the critical competencies required of sport managers in Taiwan developing and applying a locally based tool for evaluation of competencies in sport management, and in particular evaluates the differences between the perceptions of sport management academics and practitioners in Taiwan. The results of this study highlight cultural differences between the Taiwanese and other cultural contexts in terms of the perceived importance of particular competencies, and have implications for sport management professional development and training