Educational Olympic Legacy: The Public Use Of Sport Facilities After The Games

Abstract

One of the important issues of the Olympic Games is the legacy created for the hosting city. Olympic legacy can be defined as positive impacts on the hosting city and its people, lasting for a long time. Since the beginning of the 20s Olympic legacy became an Olympic demand for hosting the games. One of the social impacts has an educational aspect of reusing the Olympic sport facilities. The assumption is that construction of new sport facilities and reusing the Olympic sport facilities after the Games can bring significant increase in the sport activity of the people that will utilize the improved conditions. The educational idea of physical activity as a life style that can promote quality of life and helps in improving mental and physical health, point to the importance of the public reuse of Olympic sport facilities after the Games.The aim of this paper was to analyse the educational issue of public reuse of Olympic sport facilities after the Games in four hosting cities, two cities hosting summer Games (Athens 2004, London 2012, and two cities hosting winter Games (Salt Lake City 2002, Vancouver 2010. In order to achieve its purpose, a qualitative approach (four cases) was used in this paper. Results and comparison of the four cases were discussed, while examining the factors influencing the public reuse of Olympic sport facilities.