The Metropolis

The 2012 London Olympics did not make more Londoners play sport

Mike Pollitt | Tuesday 30 July, 2013 10:06

●

The Evening Standard just did a “one year on from the 2012 London Olympics” opinion poll. This produced a pretty positive news story and accompanying editorial which you’d have to say is fair enough. One of their headlines, however, did make me wonder. It ran:

83% think Games made more people play sport

It’s nice that 83% of people think the Olympics encouraged more people to play sport.

What would be nicer if is the the Olympics had actually encouraged more people to play sport. Can we find this out?

Happily, the latest figures on sport participation came out last month (Jun ’13). The London news?

“The proportion of adults in London participating in at least one session of sport each week has decreased from 36.5% in 2011/12 to 36% in 2012/13”.

Similar picture nationwide.

Gah.

Filed in:

Snipe Highlights

Some popular articles from past years

  1. The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
  2. Nice Interactive timeline lets you follow Londoners' historic fight against racism
  3. Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
  4. Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
  5. Diary of the shy Londoner
  6. Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
  7. Summer Camp: Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days
  8. London has chosen its mayor, but why can’t it choose its own media?
  9. An interview with Desiree Akhavan
  10. Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?