Beyond the host nation: an investigation of trickle-downeffects in the ‘Hometowns’ of Canadian athletes whocompeted at the London 2012 Olympic Games

Abstract

[Abstract]: Research question: Can evidence of trickle-down-effects beobserved among youth living in the hometowns of Canadianathletes that competed and/or won medals at the London 2012Olympic Games?Research methods: Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) rates ofmale and female youth were extracted from the CanadianCommunity Health Survey (n > 1,000,000) for 110 health regionsduring the pre-Olympic (2009/2010), Olympic (2011/2012), andpost-Olympic (2013/2014) year periods. The health regions weretreated as panel units and, beyond Canadian athletes andmedallists, the panel data analysis incorporated population sizeand previous Olympic hosting as control variables in the model.Results and findings: The panel analysis revealed that the numberof Canadian athletes representing youths’ hometowns at theLondon 2012 Olympic Games was negatively associated withLTPA rates when considering the full sample of youth, and maleyouth in particular. Interestingly however, winning medals (of anycolour) was positively associated with hometown LTPA ratesamong the full sample of youth and male youth. Hometownpopulation size was negatively associated with LTPA rates for thefull sample of youth and female youth specifically. Winning agold medal and hosting previous Olympic/Paralympic Gameswere not significantly associated with hometown LTPA rateswhen considering the full sample of youth or male and femaleyouth separately.Implications: Our study demonstrates a need for researchers andsport managers to consider the spatial reach and scope of trickle-down-effects beyond that which can occur within a host nation.These effects have the potential to be a global phenomenon