This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Fireworks illuminate the sky above the Olympic Park following the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games


GB’s Ellie Simmonds focuses for her 100m freestyle – S6 heat


GB’s Mo Farah celebrates his 10,000m gold with Wenlock


SIMON JOHNSON, CEO, BUSINESS IN SPORT & LEISURE (BISL) L


ondon did our country proud. The staging of the Olympic and Paralympic Games was superb, the


atmosphere magnificent and our athletes rose to great sporting achievement. So how are we capitalising on the benefits gained from staging the ‘greatest sports show on earth’? Personally, I have a genuine concern


regarding one of the key legacy objec- tives of the Games, which is getting more people to play more sport – particularly those that were followed so enthusiasti- cally this summer. My question is: Do sporting newcom-


ers have adequate access to the right facilities and coaches if, for example, they want to take up their chosen sport – and can these facilities cope with increased demand? I’m not so sure.


Issue 4 2012 © cybertrek 2012 Local authorities are cutting back on


leisure spend and this has resulted in a slowdown in sports facility development. One way we can ensure that more people can play more sport in quality facilities however, is to enable the private sector to invest in these and help to disseminate


We need to promote better coordination and collaboration with the rest of the leisure sector


innovative marketing strategies to ensure this unique demand is met before the Lon- don 2012 ‘halo effect’ evaporates. However, this has not proved to be an easy option – BISL members are being


held back by Byzantine, expensive and opaque procurement rules, as well as planning proce- dures that are time-consuming and slow to implement. As for the Olympic effect on the leisure


sector as a whole, now that we’ve proved our ability to host the ultimate sporting event we need to better capitalise on further events, already set on our sport- ing calendar. The lessons we should learn from London 2012 are how to ensure a wider economic benefit from hosting such events. We need to promote better coordination and collaboration with the rest of the leisure sector to ensure that the potential benefit is not squandered. Our visitors need somewhere to spend their money!


Read Sports Management online sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 29


ALL PICS: WWW.LONDON2012.COM


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84