Social benefits of hosting the Olympic Games

The social benefits of hosting the Olympic Games are wide-ranging, and contextual to each host’s vision. They include opportunities to promote: elite and grassroots sport; health; education; culture; gender equality; inclusion and diversity; and human rights.

Some examples of social benefits from past and future Olympic Games are:

• Paris 2024’s ‘Bouger Plus’ [Move More] strategy supported public bodies and employers to encourage active schools, active cities and active workplaces. Paris 2024 successfully advocated a daily 30-minute physical activity period in French primary schools.
• Before Tokyo 2020, alternatives to stairs were installed at 97 per cent of railway stations in Tokyo, while the number of wheelchair-accessible hotel rooms grew from 460 to 3,200.
• One aim of Tokyo 2020 was to influence government and societal reform by opening debate on gender and setting examples on and off the field of play. UN Women included the Games as one of the 16 defining moments for gender equality in 2021. In 2022, Japan moved up five places in the Global Gender Gap Index.
• LA28 has committed to investing USD 160 million for youth sports, including supporting PlayLA by LA Parks, which offered low cost or free activities at 148 parks in 2022.
• ‘You for 2032’, Australia’s largest athlete identification programme, will find and develop promising talent for Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• Thanks to Beijing 2022, almost 3,000 schools across China have had winter sports, or dry land winter sports such as roller skiing, added to their curriculum.
• Vancouver 2010 improved community relations and accelerated reconciliation with First Nations Peoples. The non-profit organisation for Games legacies continues to work across Canada.

Sources: The Organising Committees of Paris 2024; Tokyo 2020; LA28; Brisbane 2032; and Beijing 2022; the World Economic Forum; UN Women; the Canadian Government and Four Host First Nations Society.