Preparing For Sporting Success At The London 2012 Olympic And Paralympic Games And Beyond

This report focuses on the funding UK Sport has allocated to prepare athletes for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic sports at Beijing in 2008 and at London in 2012. It examines what progress the Department and UK Sport have made in implementing the Committee of Public Accounts' 2006 recommendations, whether they have a clear funding strategy and performance framework through which to deliver their objectives for sporting success at London 2012 and beyond, and what steps they are taking to manage the emerging areas of risk.

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and UK Sport have responsibility for elite sport in the UK. To support goals for London 2012, the Government has agreed a package of funding of over £700 million, while the DCMS will be required to raise £100 million from the private sector. This report follows up recommendations in the Committee's previous report on supporting elite athletes published in July 2006 (HC 898, session 2005-06. ISBN 9780215029768). It was found then that many funded sports had not met their medal targets at the Athens games in 2004. In particular concerns were raised about the way UK Sport measured and reported its own performance and the need for greater clarity about the level of performance required from individual sports in order to secure future funding was highlighted. UK Sport continues to plan on the basis that it will receive all of its funding up to 2012. However there remains a risk that the £100 million from the private sector will not all be raised.On the basis of a report by Comptroller and Auditor General (HC 434, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102953084) the Committee took evidence from the DCMS and UK Sport on their fudning strategy for medial success at London 2012; their setting of targets and monitoring of progress towards the Games; and their approach to securing wider and long term benefits from elite sporting success.

This NAO report (HCP 490, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102954197), provides a progress report on the preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. There are four years still to go until the Games take place and the NAO has set out a number of conclusions and recommendations regarding progress, including and covering the following areas: (1) On programme management and risk. The Government Olympic Committee should establish that the various delivery organisations are able to maintain their programme plan and that all arrangements for achieving their goals are up-to-date; also that GOE should align its risk assessments with the overarching programme plan it is setting in place; (2) On budget management. That the assessment criteria for applications to use contingency funds should allow for spend and save use of contingency, that is spending more on one project if it can help avoid delays later in other areas. (3) On evaluation of legacy benefits. The evaluation framework should set baselines against which to measure legacy benefits and disentangle the effects of the Games from other regeneration activities; (4) On management supplier performance. The Olympic Delivery Authority should be able to show by the end of 2008 that the systems for monitoring supplier performance across all objectives are in place and operating effectively; further the Authority needs to communicate to the suppliers the importance of collaborative working and also the Authority should establish whether effective competition is being acheived by suppliers. The NAO's overall conclusion is that preparations for the Games have progressed in important ways. The construction programme is on track; good practice is evident in the way procurement is being handled; the cost estimates have been developed and a clear baseline has been set for assessing costs and progress in the delivery of the venues and associated infrastructures. For related reports, see HCP 612, session 2006-07, (ISBN 9780102947335); Cm.7216 (ISBN 9780101721622); HCP 252, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780102944273); HCP 85, session 2007-08 (ISBN 9780215514653).

Within Central Government, preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are being led by the Government Olympic Executive, which is part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The Excutive is responsible for co-ordinating the activities of a wide range of organisations, including the Olympic Delivery Authority, whichis responsible for the construction of venues and associated infrastructure. Whilst individual organisations have their own programme management arrangements, the Governmetn Olympic Executive has not hyet developed a plan for the programme as a whole, or finalised arrangements for identifying and managing risks across the programme. On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (HC 490, session 2007-08, ISBN 97801102954197) the Committee took evidence from DCMS and the Olympic Delivery Authority onthe progress made in preparing for the London 2012 Olympc and Paralympic Games

The Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is an officially-licensed account of the world's greatest sporting and cultural event. It tells the complete story of the 2012 Games from inception, through the successful bidding process and the planning and preparation phase, to delivery, the post-Games period and legacy. Written by a world-class team of international sport scholars, researchers and writers, the book offers comprehensive analysis of the full social, cultural, political, historical, economic and sporting context of the Games. From the political, commercial and structural complexities of organising an event on such a scale, to the sporting action that holds the attention of the world, this book illuminates every aspect of the 2012 Games, helping us to better understand the vital role that sport and culture play in contemporary global society. The book is divided into two volumes. Volume One: Making the Games, examines the build-up to London 2012, covering key topics such as: the bidding process planning and decision making financing the Games developing the infrastructure engaging national and international governing bodies of sport engaging the UK public engaging a global public developing a legacy programme the Cultural Olympiad. Richly illustrated with the personal accounts of key stakeholders, from sports administrators and politicians to athletes and spectators, and including essential data and evocative visual material, this book is essential reading for anybody with a personal or professional interest in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, global culture or the development of sport.

Analysing the politics of the 2012 London Olympics, Stephen Wagg examines the framing of London's bid to host the Games, arguments about the Games' likely impact and the establishment of 'Fortress London' to protect the Games. The book asks who won, and who lost out, in this important event as well as exploring its media coverage and legacy.

For more than a century, the Olympics have been the modern world's most significant sporting event. Indeed, they deserve much credit for globalizing sport beyond the boundaries of the Anglo-American universe, where it originated, into broader global realms. By the 1930s, the Olympics had become a global mega-event that occupied the attention of the media, the interest of the public and the energies of nation-states. Since then, projected by television, funded by global capital and fattened by the desires of nations to garner international prestige, the Olympics have grown to gargantuan dimensions. In the course of its epic history, the Olympics have left numerous legacies, from unforgettable feats to monumental stadiums, from shining triumphs to searing tragedies, from the dazzling debuts on the world's stage of new cities and nations to notorious campaigns of national propaganda. The Olympics represent an essential component of modern global history. The Olympic movement itself has, since the 1990s, recognized and sought to shape its numerous legacies with mixed success as this book makes clear. It offers ground-breaking analyses of the power of Olympic legacies, positive and negative, and surveys the subject from Athens in 1896 to Beijing in 2008, and indeed beyond. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

How did the Olympics evolve into a multi-national phenomenon? How can the Olympics help us to understand the relationship between sport and society? What will be the impact and legacy of the Olympics after Tokyo in 2020? Understanding the Olympics answers all these questions by exploring the social, cultural, political, historical, and economic context of the Games. This thoroughly revised and updated edition discusses recent attempts at future proofing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the face of growing global anti-Olympic activism, the changing geo-political context within which the Olympics take place, and the Olympic histories of the next three cities to host the Games – Tokyo (2020), Paris (2024), and Los Angeles (2028) – as well as the legacy of the London (2012) Olympics. For the first time, this new edition introduces the reader to the emergence of ‘other Games’ associated with the IOC – the Winter Olympics, the Paralympics, and the Youth Olympics. It also features a full Olympic history timeline, many new photographs, refreshed suggestions for further reading, and revised illustrations. The most up-to-date and authoritative textbook available on the Olympic Games, Understanding the Olympics is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the Olympics or the wider relationship between sport and society.