(image courtesy of bbc.co.uk/news)

MORE people taking up sport as a result of the Olympics has been dismissed in a new report from a top academic.

 

According to a report by Sports Policy Professor Fred Coalter, of the University of Stirling, legacy pledges of the London 2012 bid proposal are ambitious and fail to refer to any evidence from previous Games that grassroots participation is inspired by Olympic competition. Promises that “grassroots participation would be boosted” and that “an already sports-mad nation would get fitter and healthier” may not be realised, he warns.

 

With 50% of adults in the UK doing no sport at all, a new strategy, with a “single pot” of funding at its heart, has been launched by Sport England, and a target of getting 1m more people doing sport by 2012 has been set.

 

However, Prof Coalter casts doubt on the involvement of national sport governing bodies in distributing funding, and increasing participation. “The more cynical might conclude that, if this is done, there is little need for the Olympics!” he said, in his report entitled “London Olympics 2012: ‘the catalyst that inspires people to lead more active lives’?

 

James Stibbs, from the Central Council for Physical Recreation, remains upbeat about 2012 inspiring new sportsmen and women. “No previous Games has managed to deliver this legacy of participation; its something that will have to be planned for and invested in properly, but if we put all that planning in place, there’s no reason to think that we can’t make it happen” he said.

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Ex Sport England chairman Derek Mapp offers his thoughts on post 2012

Listen below for the 2012 vision of Sport England director of policy and performance Mihir Warty, and his thoughts on a sporting legacy.