Lawrence Okoye, discus
Team GB athletes and contenders ‘work out in local gyms and clubs’, helping inspire grassroots participation
Greg Rutherford, long jump
Dan Keatings, gymnastics
and engage with the nation, we needed to form partnerships with lots of other stakeholders.” Those stakeholders are, of course,
LOCOG and the 52 offi cial partners of the London 2012 Games. Chambers continues: “Our Greatest Team is an organic campaign that’s designed to have its own life – it’s not rigid or prescriptive. We at the BOA have, if you like, the DNA and the blueprint of a campaign, but we’re inviting our partners to develop it, grow it, move it on.”
A participation legacy Of course, driving public awareness of Our Greatest Team – even stimulating enthusiasm for the Games themselves
– is one thing. Growing participation off the back of this is quite another: it’s something that no host nation has yet achieved. And indeed, although participation is still very much on the agenda, the UK government scrapped the original goals – a million more adults playing sport at least three times a week by 2013 – at the end
june 2012 © cybertrek 2012
of last year, leaving a watered-down aspiration in its place. So what does Chambers believe
is achievable, and how can this be delivered? “I think it has to happen at a grassroots level – participation literally happens one by one. It’s an individual decision to go out and do something about getting fi tter, participating in sport or just getting moving. “I think perhaps, not just in this
country but historically around the world, government initiatives have not been completely successful because they haven’t necessarily triggered that personal, human, emotional response. “Equally importantly, there probably
haven’t been the facilities that aligned with people’s aspirations of what they wanted to do.” Chambers is, however, the fi rst
to put up his hand and acknowledge that others may be better placed to comment on this: “The BOA is the guardian of the Olympic movement in this country, but we’re not in a position to make any promises individually about changes in participation behaviour.
Anthony Ogogo, boxing (middleweight)
What we do intend to be, however, is a clarion call for a great many aspects of the positive legacy of the London 2012 Games. But this is not a task that we alone are going to achieve – it needs to happen in partnership with others. “The ‘I Pledge’ campaign that’s
come from Technogym and the FIA has therefore been a godsend for us. It’s initiatives such as these, from our various Olympic partners, which hold the greatest potential to make a systemic change in people’s attitude towards fi tness and health in this country.”
Inspiring movement The question remains, however, whether the fi tness industry legacy should focus on ‘people more active’ or ‘more people active’ – to date, I venture, many of the operators’ own initiatives seem to be more suited to engaging with existing members than to attracting new exercisers. “I think it should be both, to be
honest – although I must reiterate that the BOA is not in a position to have
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 33
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