Introduction

There are many social benefits the Olympics can bring to the whole world, but hosting
the Games does mean that by being right at the heart of an event that is viewed by across
the world, it can make a huge difference to that city’s community. The Olympics can
change the lives of the people living in the country as well as the host city, especially
when many people from across the country, volunteering as well as spectating, will be
involved in the events not taking place in host city.

‘The Olympic Park will become a hub for east London, bringing communities together as
a catalyst for profound social and economic change’
‘It will become a model of social inclusion, opening up opportunities for education,
cultural and skills development and jobs for people across the UK and London, especially
in the Lea Valley and surrounding areas.’

2012 Vision ‘Benefiting the Community through Regeneration’ -

taken from the London 2012 Candidate profile, i.e. what
London has promised.

Every host city of the games always aims to use this privilege of hosting the games to
their advantage, and London will want there to an impact on culture throughout the UK,
especially after the promises they have made.

Lea Valley, East London

Lea Valley, an area 13km from the centre of London, is to be regenerated and is where
the Olympic Park will be built which includes the Olympic Village, Olympic Stadium,
the Aquatic Centre and other venues.

Promising The Legacy of Sport

Our unique selling point about the Olympics is that we have promised that after the
Games of 2012 will leave a mark on the whole community: local, regional and national.
This legacy that is continuing the Olympic movement has promised that the UK as well
as London will benefit us socially, in terms of health, education and culture from the
hosting of the Games in the long-term.

How London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) will do this is
that, as a result of the technological development that occurs before the opening
ceremony of the Games, the world class and finest facilities and venues built that London
will possess will create the London Olympic Institute.
"The London Olympic Institute is an exciting, dynamic and innovative concept for a new facility
dedicated to advancing De Coubertin's* Olympic vision of building a better world through sport
and the Olympic Movement,"

Statement from Lord Sebastian Coe, London 2012 Chairman and Olympian, media release
published on the LOCOG website. *Pierre De Coubertin was the founder and considered to be
father of the modern Olympics and the Olympic Movement.

The London Olympic Institute will bring together key aspects of the Olympic ethos: sport,
culture, health, the environment and education. It will:

• Inspire the next generation encouraging young people to greater sporting activity and
helping to foster a healthy and active nation
• Support research and innovation responding to the concerns of a 21st century city by
providing state of the art facilities to propel the UK to the forefront in sports science,
sports medicine and the rehabilitation of elite athletes
• Create cultural excellence offering a new creative hub situated at the heart of East and
South East London and providing a stimulating and forward-thinking environment for
London's cultural and creative communities
• Provide real benefit to local communities - studying the benefits of taking an integrated
and long term view of the impact of sport, culture and education on community health,
citizenship, the environment and regeneration
• Help advance technological and digital innovation - promoting both the direct use of new
media technologies to conduct its business and research into impacts and potential uses.
Taken from the LOCOG website- website address:
http://www.london2012.com/news/media-releases/bid-phase/london-olympic-institute-to-
change-lives-on-and-off-spor.php

Key UK Social Benefits

Sporting Participation and National Health

There has been a linked correlation between the nation’s sports participation and the
nation’s health that the more people in the country regular participates in sport and
physical activity, the more people that would be healthy in that country.

One question that ask is would London 2012 increase sports participation to make our
UK nation more healthy? It has been highlighted by the government and media in recent
years that the UK have become increasingly more obese, which is fundamentally caused
by the lack of physical activity and sporting participation.
Jonathon Edwards, 2012 Ambassador and former Gold Olympian, has said in a BBC
news interview that all ‘host cities has had increased sports participation rates and as a
result has increased health of the nation that is something that we are committed to do’.
Although there may be bias in the comments that Jonathon Edwards has made and that he
may not be the best expert to be asked upon the subject of national health, I do believe
there is truth in what he says- he’s a retired athlete who works with the LOCOG, he and
many others of the committee would be disappointed that this increase in national health
is not fulfilled.

The London Olympic institute, as outlined above, is going to aim to encourage greater
sporting participation to promote healthy living to create a healthier nation and reinforces
the comments made by Jonathon Edwards.

What ill also create a ‘health’ legacy is other organisations who are working by using the
2012 Olympic theme. Key example is the London NHS, who has launched the ‘Go
London’ programme that consists of a series of initiatives that will ‘show Londoners that
even the easiest exercise can vastly improve your health’, and the Government’s ‘Be
Active, Be Healthy’ that works in the company of Sport England’s Grow, Sustain and
excel to get 2 Million adults active through sport and physical activity.

Multicultural Communities