When London won the right to host the Olympics in Singapore back in 2005, Tony Blair said that “Our vision is to see millions more young people in Britain and around the world participating in sport…and London has the power to make that happen.” But more than three years on, the only genuinely new proposals to support that legacy of increased participation focus on a single sport – swimming – whilst many community sports clubs struggle to remain solvent.
Tim Lamb, CCPR chief executive, who this week returned from a fact-finding visit to the Beijing Games says that much more needs to be done if the UK is to make the most of the opportunity the Olympics affords host countries.
“It’s clear that the Chinese are making a good job of making the Games work for them – as a platform for improved international relations, for instance, it’s been a massive success, despite all the initial concerns. But if the UK is to make a success of its Games, we need to ensure that it delivers what it promised.
“When we won the bid in Singapore we did so with the pledge that a London games would inspire a new level of participation in sport in the UK. But at the moment, that’s about the only thing that isn’t being planned properly for. Failure to secure a real and lasting sporting legacy for the London Games will reduce it to little more than a massive construction project in the south-east.
“Unless the Government invests in delivering a legacy of increased participation ahead of 2012, we will have broken our promises to the IOC and to all those who supported the London bid in the first place.
“There are 150,000 community sports clubs in the UK and our research shows that more than half of them are either just breaking even or are losing money. And as more than half a billion pounds earmarked for community sport is being diverted away towards to the Olympics, that situation is unlikely to improve.
“You can already feel the glow from Team GB’s success in Beijing. Just imagine the power that could have in London. Unless we harness that, we will all look back on London 2012 as an opportunity lost.”
