The main aim of this study is to investigate how to deliver a sustainable legacy from the
PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. The research sets forth to look into the case
of the 2018 Olympics compared to SMEs held in other states. The overall goal of this
research is to find the ideal model for the sustainable legacy, which could be adopted after
hosting the SME in Korea. The three research questions of the study are: 1) What legacy
strategies did the two previous Olympics in Vancouver and London use to develop
sustainability?; 2) What are the discrepancies in the plan for a sustainable legacy of the
PyeongChang Olympics between the bid proposal and actual realisation? Why? and 3)
What are the factors to consider for sustainable post-SME legacy in Korea?.
To answer the research questions, the specific methods used to collect the data are semistructure interviews and document analysis; 10 interviews were conducted with various
stakeholder of PyeongChang Olympic Games. In addition, multiple case studies are
employed as a triangulation technique to enhance the reliability and validation of this
study. There are three cases: the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, the 2012
London Summer Olympic Games and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.
The data collection identified all factors of the sustainability of the last three Olympics
were aggregated to establish a new sustainable legacy strategy for potential sports megaevents in Korea in terms of Triple Bottom Line framework: 1) definite plans with
stakeholder consultation in advance for economic, social and environmental
sustainability; 2) active communication among stakeholders related to sports mega-events
for economic and social sustainability; 3) efficient governance for sports events for
economic, social and environmental sustainability and 4) strict management and
regulation for environmental legacy for environmental sustainability