Did the 2000 Sydney Olympics increase physical activity among adult Australians?

Suggested improvements to the 11+ as identified by coaches, players, strength and conditioning staff and medical staff in New Zealand Football

The aim of this study was to investigate the experience with the 11+, attitudes towards injury prevention, and potential improvements to the 11+ and the delivery of injury prevention strategies within football. A qualitative study design was used to investigate the views of four stakeholder groups (players, coaches, strength and conditioning staff and clinicians). Twenty-two adults participated (nine women; median age 35.5 years). Participants were purposively recruited and were based in New Zealand. They represented various levels of football, including different genders, ages and levels of play. Focus group interviews were conducted, which were recorded, transcribed and subject to thematic analysis. Four key themes were identified: understanding of the 11+ injury prevention warm-up, content of an ideal injury prevention programme, structure of the programme and education, adherence and dissemination. The study found that while participants appeared to have good awareness of the existing 11+ programme and an interest in injury prevention, adherence and enthusiasm towards the programme was limited. Participants highlighted a number of elements that may help shape the development of a new injury prevention strategy, including a desire to retain many of the elements of the 11+ and to have a proven programme. Participants wanted greater variety, more football-specific elements and to implement a new strategy throughout a session, rather than being seen as a stand-alone warm-up. Whether the intervention should also include strength-based exercises, or whether this should be promoted outside of a football training session, was less certain.

Effect of Elite Sport on Physical Activity Practice in the General Population: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Our study investigated the effect of elite sport on physical activity (PA) practice in the general population.

METHODS

Structured Boolean searches were conducted across 5 electronic databases (PubMed, JSTOR, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and PsycInfo) from January 2000 to August 2021. Peer-reviewed studies in English were included if the effects of hosting elite sport events, elite sport success, and elite sport role modeling on PA/sport practice in the general population were measured.

RESULTS

We identified 12,563 articles and included 36 articles. Most studies investigated the effect of hosting elite sport events (n = 27), followed by elite sport success (n = 16) and elite sport role modeling (n = 3). Most studies did not observe a positive effect of hosting elite sport events, elite sport success, or elite sport role modeling on PA/sport practice in the general population. No evidence of a lagged effect of elite sport was observed. No evidence of elite sport effects was observed according to age range and geographical scale.

CONCLUSION

There is no evidence supporting the effect of elite sport in increasing PA or sport participation in the general population. Decision makers and policymakers should be aware of this and invest in strategies such as those recommended by the World Health Organization.

Evaluation of pre-Games effects of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Japanese population-level physical activity: a time-series analysis

Background

The Olympic Games represent an opportunity to create a ‘physical activity legacy’ that promotes physical activity at the population level in the host nations and cities. However, previous studies showed little increase in population-level physical activity following the Olympics. The upsurge of public interest in sports and physical activity participation before the Olympics may diminish rapidly following the Games. We examined the pre-Games effects of the Olympics on Japanese population-level physical activity after the announcement of Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in September 2013.

Methods

We used publicly available data from serial cross-sectional surveys conducted with nationally or regionally representative samples in Japan seven years before and after the announcement (from 2006–2020). The outcomes were 1) daily step counts and 2) exercise habit prevalence (≥ 30 min/day, ≥ 2 days/week, and over a year) from the National Health and Nutrition Surveys Japan (NHNS-J; 14 time points; aggregated data); and 3) sports participation (at least once a week) from the National Sports-Life Survey conducted every two years (NSLS; eight time points; individual-level data of 18,867 adults) and from the Public Opinion Survey on Sports Participation of Tokyo Residents (POSSP; eight time points; aggregated data). Age- and gender-adjusted regression models were used to estimate changes in the outcomes before and after the announcement.

Results

There were no significant pre-Games effects of the Olympics on national-level physical activity participation among Japanese adults. Sports participation (56.4% and 57.5%, respectively; P = 0.518), daily steps (6,535 and 6,686 steps/day; P = 0.353), and exercise habit (30.7% and 29.1%, P = 0.309) did not change significantly before and after the announcement. Although an increase in sports participation among Tokyo residents was not found in the NSLS (61.5% and 59.3%, P = 0.227), it was observed in the POSSP (49.1% and 57.7%, P = 0.019). Nonetheless, this increase might not be related to the pre-Games effects since the trend diminished following the announcement.

Conclusions

Population-level physical activity did not show significant changes until 2020. Realising the physical activity legacy of an Olympics may require strategic promotion and cross-agency partnership implementation in the pre- and post-event period.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12966-022-01332-x.

Sustainable Development of Olympic Sport Participation Legacy: A Scoping Review Based on the PAGER Framework

After the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese officials claimed that the goal of “driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports” had been achieved. Historically, the London 2012 Olympic Games had a similar goal: to increase sports participation for all by hosting the Olympic Games. Given these goals, the impact of the Olympic Games on sports participation has clearly become significant. These impacts can be referred to as the Olympic sport participation legacy, an intangible Olympic legacy. The Olympic sport participation legacy has attracted a lot of researchers’ interest in the academic field in recent years. This paper aims to conduct a scoping review of Olympic sport participation legacy studies between 2000 and 2021 to identify the progress of studies on the sustainability of Olympic sport participation legacies. Unlike previous scoping reviews on sport participation legacies, this review adopts a Patterns, Advances, Gaps, Evidence of Practice, and Research Recommendations (PAGER) framework at the results analysis stage to improve the quality of the findings. The results from the scoping review contained 54 peer-reviewed articles on three levels of research: the population level, social level, and intervention processes. Many studies indicate that achieving a sustainable Olympic sport participation legacy requires joint collaboration and long-term planning between governments, community organisations, and other stakeholders.

An evidence-based assessment of the impact of the Olympic Games on population levels of physical activity

Pre-Olympic Games predictions commonly include an increase in population-based physical activity in the host city, as often stated in the bid, but the post-Olympic Games effects on physical activity have not been summarised. In this Series paper, we aim to do the following: examine mentions of a physical activity legacy in pre-Olympic bid documentation; analyse existing physical activity surveillance data collected before, during, and after the Olympic Games in hosting areas around the world; and evaluate Google Trends data surrounding the London 2012 Olympic Games as a case study of community interest in the topic of exercise during the time of the Olympic Games. Before 2007, little mention of physical activity was made in pre-Olympic Games documentation, but, after that, most documents had targets for population physical activity or sports participation. The synthesis of available surveillance data indicates that there was no change in the prevalence of physical activity or sports participation, except for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano; although, the increase in participation in Nagano might not be attributable to the Olympic Games since there was no change in participation in winter sports. The Google Trends data showed an acute spike in searches with the term "Olympic" immediately associated with the London Olympic Games period and showed a sustained peri-Olympic increase in searches with the term "exercise". By themselves, the Olympic Games have not improved population-wide physical activity but might be an important missed public health opportunity. Such a legacy will require strategic planning and partnerships across the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic, sport, and public health agencies and a thorough evaluation framework implemented throughout the pre-Olympic Games and post-Olympic Games period in the host country.

Sport Events for Sport Participation: A Scoping Review

Research on sport participation impacts from sport events has been sporadic. This scoping review assesses the current state of literature that addresses impacts, legacies, and leveraging of sport events for sport participation outcomes and the gaps in terms of study context and research designs. Two systematic approaches of article identification were performed: a traditional database search and a systematic manual search. Studies on sport participation outcomes from events mainly focused on mega sport events and adult populations, with the majority employing cross-sectional data and quantitative methods. The use theoretical of frameworks is limited and inconsistent. There is a need for longitudinal investigations, as well as more focus on youth populations, participant events, and smaller-sized events to advance the research agenda for sport participation outcomes from sport events.

Physical Activity Among Urban-Living Middle-Aged and Older Japanese During the Build-Up to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games: A Population Study

This research examines physical activity (PA) parameters among urban-living middle-aged and older Japanese during the Tokyo Olympic build-up period. Population sampling was employed, and an online survey was administered with 4,000 adults across Japan's five largest cities. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form constituted the main outcome variable, with auxiliary measures of Olympic interest and engagement, readiness for PA behavior change, perceived environmental barriers, and demographic information. Despite interest in the Olympics (>60% moderate-high interest), planned engagement with the event was low (>70% planned passive engagement). Higher levels of interest and planned engagement were both significantly correlated with greater self-reported PA participation (p < .001). Across the sample, the PA levels were in the low-moderate range (990 metabolic equivalent of task-min/week), with significant variations observed by the age-cohort and geographic area (p < .001). Age-cohort and geographic variations were also identified with regard to readiness for PA behavior change and perceived environmental barriers to activity (p < .001). Older age (65 years and above) and host city (Tokyo) residence emerged as correlates of higher levels of PA, greater readiness for behavior change, and fewer reported barriers to participation. These findings have implications for Olympic legacy management and successful transitions from middle age to later life in Japan.

Sport Promotion through Sport Mega-Events. An Analysis for Types of Olympic Sports in London 2012

A substantial amount of attention has been devoted towards the potential sport legacy of the Olympic Games. In spite of the increasing academic interest in this topic, there is a knowledge gap as far as sport legacy is concerned by types of different sports. The authors bridge this gap by analysing the evolution of 43 different Olympic/Paralympic sport modalities in the two-year period after the London 2012 Olympics. By using data from the Active People Survey with a sample of 165,000 people annually, and considering some demographic variables and the effect of the economic environment, the paper aims to test the existence of a sport legacy. We have applied time series analysis and ARIMA models for controlling for economic influence and seasonal adjustment and for making comparisons among participation rates. The results show, for the total of the sports analysed, that there were 336,000 individuals who increased their frequency of participation, while there was no significant increase in the number of new participants in these sports. When we develop the analysis for types of sports, London 2012 is positively associated not only with the frequency of participation in some types of sport but also with an increase in the number of new sport participants. Gender and age differences are also detected. The results show the differences of sport legacy by type of sports. Moreover, this research has elucidated an important unrecognised aspect of the effect of the Olympic Games and perhaps major events: that they can become a major policy tool for reversing sporting inequalities.

Do golf fans walk the talk? Follow-up of spectators' beliefs and self-reported physical activity 3 months after they attended a professional golf tournament in the UK

Background

Previous research of spectators at professional golf tournaments has highlighted that obtaining exercise/physical activity (PA) can be a motivator to attend, and that spectators can engage in health-enhancing PA while at the event. We assessed whether attending a golf event and receiving an intervention improve knowledge and change attitudes related to physical activity, and self-reported physical activity 3 months later.

Methods

Follow-up observational study. Spectators at a European Tour Golf event were given a leaflet about physical activity and health. Three months after that event, we emailed a questionnaire to all 326 spectators who had participated in the original study and provided us their contact details.

Results

135 spectators (41.4%) completed the questionnaire. Among responders, 68.0% ‘agreed/strongly agreed’ that their knowledge relating to PA had increased, 65.1% agreed/strongly agreed that receiving this information at the event made them consider increasing physical activity in daily life and 40.4% reported that they had increased their physical activity during the 3 months after the golf tournament.

Principal findings/conclusions

Golf spectators may contemplate/prepare to increase PA in daily life while a smaller number self-report an increase in PA during the 3 months post intervention at a golf tournament. Spectators’ preferred method for receiving information about ‘active spectating’ is via a big screen. These findings are presented with caution, as respondents may not be representative of all golf spectators.

An evaluation of the impact of FIFA World Cup on soccer emergency department injuries among Montreal adolescents

AIM

The 'trickle-down effect', or how major sports events have a positive impact on sports participation, has been the subject of many studies, but none produced conclusive results. We took a different approach and rather than look at sports participation, we used injuries as a proxy and see if injuries increased, or remained the same, after the International Federation of Association Football World Cup.

METHODS

Using a retrospective cohort design, we looked at the injuries suffered by males and females (13-16 years old) while playing team sports in Montreal, that occurred in May to July, from 1999 to 2014. Information reported by the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting Prevention Program (CHIRPP) was limited to the two CHIRPP centres in Montreal: the Montreal Children's Hospital and Hopital Sainte-Justine.

RESULTS

In females, no significant trends were noticed. In males who played non-organised soccer, the percent changes between FIFA World Cup (WC) (June) and pre-FIFA WC (May) was always highest during FIFA WC years: 17.2% more injuries in years when FIFA WC was held compared to 1.3% less injuries during non-FIFA WC years. In non-organised soccer, male players suffered less strains/sprains (11.9% vs. 30.1%; P = 0.015), suffered more severe injuries (59.7% vs. 43.1%; P = 0.049) and more of their injuries were the results of direct contact with another player (26.8% vs. 13.3%; P = 0.028) during FIFA WC.

CONCLUSION

FIFA WC seems to have an impact on the injuries of teenage boys when playing non-organised soccer. The impact was short-lived, only lasting during the FIFA WC event.

Cardiovascular Effects of Performance-Enhancing Drugs

Exercise and competitive sports should be associated with a wide range of health benefits with the potential to inspire a positive community health legacy. However, the reputation of sports is being threatened by an ever-expanding armamentarium of agents with real or perceived benefits in performance enhancement. In addition to the injustice of unfair advantage for dishonest athletes, significant potential health risks are associated with performance-enhancing drugs. Performance-enhancing drugs may have an effect on the cardiovascular system by means of directly altering the myocardium, vasculature, and metabolism. However, less frequently considered is the potential for indirect effects caused through enabling athletes to push beyond normal physiological limits with the potential consequence of exercise-induced arrhythmias. This review will summarize the known health effects of PEDs but will also focus on the potentially greater health threat posed by the covert search for performance-enhancing agents that have yet to be recognized by the World Anti-Doping Agency. History has taught us that athletes are subjected to unmonitored trials with experimental drugs that have little or no established efficacy or safety data. One approach to decrease drug abuse in sports would be to accept that there is a delay from when athletes start experimenting with novel agents to the time when authorities become aware of these drugs. This provides a window of opportunity for athletes to exploit with relative immunity. It could be argued that all off-label use of any agent should be deemed illegal.

The impact of the Vancouver Winter Olympics on population level physical activity and sport participation among Canadian children and adolescents: population based study

Background

There has been much debate about the potential impact of the Olympics. The purpose of this study was to determine if hosting the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games (OG) encouraged Canadian children to be physically active.

Methods

Children 5–19 years (n = 19862) were assessed as part of the representative Canadian Physical Activity Levels Among Youth surveillance study between August 2007 and July 2011. Parents were asked if the child participated in organized physical activity or sport. In addition, children wore pedometers for 7 days to objectively provide an estimate of overall physical activity. Mean steps/day and percent participating in organized physical activity or sport were calculated by time period within year for Canada and British Columbia. The odds of participation by time period were estimated by logistic regression, controlling for age and sex.

Results

Mean steps were lower during the Olympic period compared with Pre- (607 fewer steps/day 95% CI 263–950 steps/day) and Post-Olympic (1246 fewer steps 95% CI 858–1634 steps) periods for Canada. There was no difference by time period in British Columbia. A similar pattern in mean steps by time period was observed across years, but there were no significant differences in activity within each of these periods between years. The likelihood of participating in organized physical activity or sport by time period within or across years did not differ from baseline (August-November 2007).

Conclusion

The 2010 Olympic Games had no measurable impact on objectively measured physical activity or the prevalence of overall sports participation among Canadian children. Much greater cross-Government and long-term efforts are needed to create the conditions for an Olympic legacy effect on physical activity.