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In this paper, we explore the lived experiences of mother-coaches who, while coaching, navigate policy and programs aimed at promoting gender equity. Specifically, this study took place within the context of an amateur national, 10-day multisport games event in Canada. Using critical feminist narrative inquiry, 14 mother-coaches (apprentice, assistant, or head coach), representing eight different provinces, and 10 different sports, participated in this study. Three themes were constructed that call attention to the Canadian sport system broadly, as well as the 10-day multisport games event specifically: (a) performative policies and gendered assumptions, (b) programs that are band-aids for a "shitty culture," and (c) a pathway to nowhere for mother-coaches. The findings complicate the hegemonic work–family conflict narrative, suggesting that mother-coaches' advancement, opportunities, and quality experiences are impacted by the current heteropatriarchal culture and structure of sport that these programs and policy are rooted in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Athletes are susceptible to oral injuries. To reduce the incidence and severity of oral trauma, a custom‐made mouthguard, a device positioned in the mouth to prevent damage to teeth and surrounding structures, is recommended. In field hockey, according to the international rules of this sport, using mouthguards is not mandatory, but it is recommended to wear them at all times while practicing this discipline. We aimed to determine characteristics and differences regarding mouthguard usage among field hockey players from different countries participating in the XII ODESUR Games. Methods: We conducted a cross‐sectional study that included 78 voluntary hockey athletes that met the inclusion criteria. The questionnaire used was validated by Panam Sports, collecting information on the type of mouthguard (custom‐made or prefabricated), and the time of use of the mouthguard (range of 5 years). Results: Of the total number of athletes, 96% used mouthguards, of which 64% were custom‐made type, and 32% were prefabricated (p <.001). Custom‐made mouthguards were used by 100%, 89%, and 64% of athletes in Argentina, Chile, and Peru, respectively, while only 40% of athletes in Paraguay and Uruguay used them. It has also been observed that more than 50% of the individuals have not controlled and replaced their intraoral devices for more than 10 years. Conclusions: Our results reveal a problem with a public health dimension and thus invite the standardization of guidelines with an educational approach to promoting and adopting good sports practices. This report is the first on using mouthguards in high‐performance athletes during an international multisport event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Sports Week (known in Bahasa Indonesia as Pekan Olahraga Nasional or PON) consumes a large budget as Indonesia's largest multi-sports event. This raises the question of whether it is only a sporting event or has an impact on society. Studies related to multi-sports events, specifically in the form of local or small-scale, such as PON, are still limited in Asia. The aim of this study was to investigate six important domains (constructs) of the 20th PON (PON XX) held in Papua in 2021: sports event image, motivation, satisfaction, stadium atmosphere, environment, and perception of the impacts. In addition, this study assessed the correlations between those six constructs and associations between the explanatory variables (gender, distance of residence, and involvement in the sporting event) and those six constructs. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to assess those six constructs and the explanatory variables. We included 675 respondents aged between 17–57 years, with a mean age of 22.87 years in the study. The results showed that the implementation of PON XX was positively received by the community and their highest motivation to watch this event was for entertainment. The involvement of the participant in the event was significantly associated with sports event image, satisfaction, motivation, stadium atmosphere, environment, and the perception of PON impact. The distance of the residence from the venues was only significantly associated with the perceived impact of PON XX on the community while gender had no association with all six constructs. There was a strong correlation between the other five investigated constructs and the perceived impact of PON XX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, a critical mass of feminist scholars has been working to develop new ways of understanding the complex interactions between the social and biological body. Working broadly under the umbrella of 'new materialisms,' a subgroup of feminist scholars is proposing alternative non-dualistic models for engaging with biology, corporeality, science, and matter. In this study, we take inspiration from this body of literature, and particularly Samantha Frost's recent concept of 'biocultural creatures' to explore the complex entanglements between sporting cultures and women's biological bodies. In conceiving of biology differently, this study reveals the dynamism and plasticity of the biocultural sporting body and reveals sportswomen as active agents in these processes. Interviews with sportswomen in two different sporting cultures—endurance multi-sport events (triathlon and Ironman) and rugby sevens—offer rich insights into how different body ideals, physical requirements, support structures, and performance cultures intra-act with women's biological bodies, and particularly their embodied experiences of the health condition known as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Ultimately, this study reveals sportswomen as biocultural creatives, "constantly composing, decomposing and recomposing" (Frost 2016, p. 149) in response to their engagement with distinctive sporting habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade a great deal of work has examined major sport event legacies and event leverage. Much of this work has involved Olympic studies and this paper seeks to add to the body of knowledge surrounding major sport event legacies by examining the largely overlooked area of the Paralympic Games. The Paralympic Games are the second largest multisport event after the Olympic Games depending upon which parameters are used and since Sydney 2000 there has been an 'operational partnership' where bid cities are required to host both Games. Yet, few studies have evaluated the comparative outcomes, legacies and event leverage that Paralympic games have generated. This paper addresses this absence by conducting a thematic analysis of Paralympic legacy research. The thematic analysis used a combination of keywords involving event legacy across 13 major academic databases. Of the 43 articles identified as having Paralympic legacy related content only 13 articles empirically investigated Paralympic legacy. In reviewing the research, it is noted that the bulk of the research has focused on Summer Paralympic Games with little interest in the Winter Paralympic Games. The major findings for legacy-based research include: infrastructure; sport; information education, and awareness; human capital; and managerial changes. However, while these findings may seem congruent with major event legacies frameworks conceptually, an examination of the detailed findings shows that Paralympic legacy research is isomorphic and adds a new component to existing legacy dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article was to examine how the decision-making process changes as a major sport event's organizing committee moves from the planning to the implementation to the wrap-up modes. A case study of the 1999 Pan American Games, its organizing committee, and its stakeholders was built by means of interviews and archival material. Velocity impacted decision making in different ways. First, the importance of the time, context, and resources parameters changed, as did the model of decision making (from administrative to garbage can to rational). As well, four drivers of decision making (structural dimensions, stakeholder interactions, information management, and personal characteristics) were found. A key strategy for decision makers faced with an increasing velocity environment was planning for the need to react (come Games time) through risk assessments and contingency plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the institution responsible for the administration, organization, and management of the Paralympic Games, has reshaped the landscape of sport for the disabled. This article argues that the IPC has marginalized the practice community, notably the International Organizations of Sport for the Disabled. By wrestling away control of the classification systems developed by these organizations, the IPC has transformed them to such an extent that they fail to provide opportunities for equitable sporting practice and the result has been a threat to the ideology of Paralympism. We illustrate this by examining two classification systems that are currently used within Paralympic Sport: the integrated functional system employed in the sport of swimming and the disability-specific system used within athletics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses agency problems in sport organizations in which the same individuals are involved in both the management and control of decision making. We focus our analysis on the case of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by reviewing the behavior of selected IOC members with regard to the bidding process for the Olympic Games and the resulting reform attempts made by the IOC in an effort to address issues of corruption. After a review of examples of corrupt behavior on the part of IOC members, agency theory is introduced to discuss IOC reforms and provide some suggestions for future reform. We propose incorporating other stakeholders (in addition to the IOC members), such as corporate partners, media conglomerates, and other members of the Olympic movement (e.g., athletes, coaches, officials), into management and control functions. More specifically, it is suggested that these stakeholders comprise a board that oversees the operations of the IOC (similar to the IOC's current executive committee) and be given the ability to remove and/or sanction IOC members who act self-interestedly to the detriment of the Olympic movement. Thus, by delegating the control function of decision making to a board and the management function to internal agents, greater accountability for all organization members can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Surveillance systems have become a valuable tool to capture epidemiological data at multi-sport events, with findings serving to predict and prevent injury, reduce illness, and guide efficient utilization of medical resources. In 2016, the first injury and illness surveillance tool for the Department of Defense (DoD) Warrior Games was established to inform the required medical footprint. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and findings from the 2016 DoD Warrior Games surveillance system, which included a database of injuries and illness.Materials and Methods: A total of 245 wounded warrior (WW) athletes were followed over 19 days, to include train-up and competition periods, as they competed for their respective teams of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Special Operations, and United Kingdom. Medical personnel recorded injuries and illnesses treated utilizing a standardized surveillance form and data were entered into a daily tracker to examine patterns or areas for prevention. Reports included sex, age, event discipline, previous injury or illness, reason for presentation, and treatment provided.Results: From June 3 to June 21, 2016, 114 individual encounters were recorded on the standard form and entered into the surveillance database. Athletes accounted for 67% of all encounters. Illness accounted for 30.7% of all visits, while injuries accounted for 69.2%. The incident proportion of injuries in athletes was 23.3 injuries per 100 athletes (95% CI 17.6, 30.1) and incident rate of 12.2 injuries per 1000 athlete days. Integrative medicine treatments including acupuncture, osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), massage therapy, and gua sha accounted for the largest forms of treatment (31%).Conclusions: From the surveillance data, staff levels and treatment supplies can be adjusted. In addition an improved surveillance tool can be created. Continuous surveillance is required to provide information on trends in injury and illness to support prevention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic victory ceremony is a globally familiar and highly stable ritual form of the world system of nation states. In this article, the medal ceremony is placed within the overarching Olympic ritual process, and its evocative power is attributed to its symbolic treatment of the relationship between Individual, National and Human identities in modern worlds. The ritual asserts and performs the compatibility of these identities in the face of all the horrific counter‐evidence of the 20th century and today; it presents a very specific strategy for symbolically handling exclusionary nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commentators have suggested that action sports have provided space for more progressive gendered power relations than many more traditional, institutionalized sex-segregated sports. However, as action sports become institutionalized via Olympic inclusion, what are the potential opportunities and challenges for girls and women as both athletes and industry leaders? Drawing on interviews with male and female leaders in surfing and skateboarding industries, media and cultures, and an analysis of niche media, we assess the opportunities for women as the sports prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The two case studies reveal the different struggles and strategies of women in these two sporting cultures, as well as the roles played by men in supporting cultural change. This article contributes to the critical literature assessing the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) claims to provide opportunities for diverse groups of women and, more widely, the challenges in establishing effective policies to “empower” girls and women in and through sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines some innovative practices of citizen engagement strategy implemented by Tokyo 2020 in the pre-game period. Hosting a sports megaevent such as the Olympic Games is a key milestone in urban history and reputation of any city. The challenge of celebrating an outstanding global event with a longlasting positive impact on the place requires the commitment and engagement of all urban stakeholders as the hosting city needs to maximize the number of supporters who share the games' vision and embrace the Olympic experience. The role of citizens as creators and prescribers of urban reality is increasingly recognized in the field of place branding as it confronts the traditional top-down agenda-setting approach with a new collaborative paradigm and participatory culture. The city of Tokyo has initiated the implementation of its comprehensive strategy for hosting its second Olympic Games in 2020. The foundation plan of the 2020 Games identifies the engagement strategy as one of the key strategic pillars of the event aimed at ensuring an inclusive and active participatory nature of the Games celebration. The research is guided by an exploratory case study approach to assess the citizen engagement strategy and participatory frameworks within the context of the Olympic mega-event to be held in Tokyo in 2020. The examination of some innovative initiatives in the pre-game period such as the national call for the creation of Olympic medals, the Olympic mascots selection process and the Volunteering program, reveals a series meaningful drivers of citizen engagement strategy of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games ranging from the access to a specific Olympic knowledge and sports experience to a personal self-realization and community empowerment, among others. The research aims at contributing to further academic discussion and effective practice of citizens' engagement in place making through sports mega-events in such a way as to ensure a truly inclusive, inspiring and meaningful nature of these global happenings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how stigmatisation is intimately linked with neoliberal governance and capital accumulation in specific ways through processes around the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. It advances the author's previous research exploring the effects of stigma on the East End community hosting the Games, by looking at some of the processes of power and profit which motivate stigmatising processes by 'gazing up', rather than 'gazing down'. That is, looking at the role of the stigmatisers in this project and not the stigmatised. It draws loosely on Goffman's concept of 'backstage' to shed light on those who produce and profit from these stigmatisation processes, including government bodies and actors and private business interests. Looking at some of the processes through which stigmatisation is profited from reveals not only forms of power vital to this process but that it is a key form of exploitation integral to capital accumulation. Under austerity, the political economy of the Games constitutes state support of private finance and a simultaneous withdrawal of social welfare support, which transfers the burden of debt from the state to the individual and wealth from public funds to private funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explore the 2016 Arctic Winter Games (AWG) as a site for arctic, Indigenous, and national identity building, drawing on fieldwork from the planning and execution of AWG 2016 and surveys conducted with participant and stakeholder groups. We show that although the AWG 2016 event is seemingly a contranational sports competition in the Olympic modality, and thus a vehicle for traditional national identity manifestations, it also caters to other collective identity constructions. In our analysis, we present and discuss four collective identity manifestations at the AWG 2016: "panarctic," "contranational/regional," Indigenous, and "autocommunicating" national identity. Our study suggests that the AWG event not only reproduces existing national identities or the singular panarctic identity that organizers actively promote, but works as a catalyst for the manifestation of other identity positions also. In practice, competition at this sporting event extends to identity discourses competing for hegemony, but the games also create spaces for identity negotiation and willful identity entanglement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature on Olympic legacies and impacts, there is a dearth of materials that specifically address the issue of Olympic impact fornon-hostingregions. The literature tends to deal with impacts at a national level, or at a hosting-city region level, neglecting in large part the degree to which benefits can be leveraged by non-hosting regions. A further limitation identified in the literature is a failure to engage in detailed formal evaluation of policy implementation where assertions of potential policy impact are based on untested assumptions. This study is intended to address both of these concerns. It presents an empirical, ‘bottom-up’ application of a Realist Evaluation framework to assess the impact of a policy initiative – Workplace Challenge – aimed at leveraging enhanced sports participation in a non-hosting region – Leicestershire – in the period leading up to the 2012 Games. In doing so, it seeks to identify which causal mechanisms worked within this particular context to produce the observed outcomes. The evaluation results demonstrate that the programme represented a positive approach to fostering regular engagement with sport and physical activities for some groups in some types of organisations, and that awareness and motivational factors associated with the London 2012 Games are, in this case, linked (albeit weakly) to an increase in sport and physical activity participation for specific groups taking part in the programme in particular organisational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOPG) brought with it detailed legacy plans aiming to ‘Inspire a Generation’. The idea that hosting a sports mega-event will encourage the host population to engage in more physical activity is commonly used by governments to justify the large investments they make. The aim of this research paper was to investigate the impact that hosting the 2012 Games had on grass-root sports participation within the host nation. This paper focuses on two non-traditional English sports, Fencing and Judo and investigated the changes in mass sports participation. The membership rate analysis of our sample highlighted an overall increase in participation between 2007 and 2013, in both Judo and Fencing. The data gathered from the interviews with the head office staff at the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and local club coaches suggested that the grass-root participation programmes were the most effective way of increasing participation, rather than the reliance, solely on the inspiration effect from hosting the LOPG itself. The study highlighted the importance of strengthening communication between local voluntary clubs and the NGB, to ensure sports could promote themselves and capitalise on this global sporting phenomenon, which provided unprecedented media coverage and opportunities for these non-traditional sports. This case study provides initial results relating to the effect that a major international multi-sport event can have in the development of non-traditional sports in the host population, in terms of membership variations, participation programmes and organisational dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined differences in generativity and meaning in life among middle-aged and older adult volunteers for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. It was hypothesised that older volunteers would exhibit a stronger association between sense of belonging and meaning in life, whereas middle-aged ones would demonstrate a stronger association between self-esteem and meaning in life. Data were utilised from the Older Olympic Volunteer Project, which collected the information on volunteering experiences among 255 middle-aged and older adults before and after the intensive mega-event. For middle-aged volunteers, the association between self-esteem and meaning in life increased significantly after controlling for socio-demographic factors. Among older volunteers, the association between sense of belonging and meaning in life also strengthened. The associations between self-esteem, sense of belonging and meaning in life were not replicated for the other age group as predicted. Overall, the findings support generative processes linked to volunteering experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with other sporting mega-events, the Olympic Games, in all its versions, makes extensive use of volunteers. The 70,000 London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic volunteers, for example, played a vital role in the delivery of the event. Stebbins’ theoretical perspective of serious leisure includes consideration of volunteering and there are calls for its further empirical evaluation. This study, therefore, uses a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 volunteers to test the relevance of the serious leisure framework to Olympic volunteering. The data are drawn from the reflective diaries of 20 participants who volunteered in a variety of roles during London 2012. It is concluded that all of the qualities of serious leisure are identifiable to various extents within the experiences of the London 2012 volunteers. This finding will help Olympic and other sporting mega-event managers to understand and improve the experiences of their volunteers. Recommendations are also made, in the light of the findings, for the further refinement of the serious leisure perspective. Particular attention is paid to highlighting how the findings might contribute to recent debates around whether sporting mega-event volunteering is best explained by the serious leisure quality of career volunteering, or by the serious leisure associated concept of project-based leisure, or alternatively by the competing term of episodic volunteering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the topic of strategically leveraging the hosting of sport mega-events to achieve socioeconomic outcomes has received some academic attention, research has not systematically applied the theoretical model of event leveraging. The challenge of this paper is to review some of the assumptions of the current theoretical model while using secondary data from the Olympic Games Impact (OGI) study that has been conducted on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. These data illustrate that, from the perspective of the host, the costs associated with leveraging far exceed the costs associated with hosting the Olympic Games. However, event leverage proves to be a complex process, in which it is nearly impossible to differentiate between impacts and outcomes, even when only government investments into infrastructure are illuminated. Therefore, a conceptual framework that links the sport mega-event with the context of the host is proposed and it is aimed at inviting and guiding future research by clearly assigning the responsibility of leveraging to host governments, with the involvement of other event stakeholders throughout the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research represents the first documented investigation into the body segment parameters of Paralympic athletes (e.g., individuals with spinal cord injuries and lower extremity amputations). Two-dimensional body segment parameters (i.e., mass, length, position vector of the center of mass, and principal mass moment of inertia about the center of mass) were quantified from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). In addition to establishing a body segment parameter database of Paralympic athletes for prospective biomechanists and engineers, the mass of each body segment as experimentally measured via the DXA imaging was compared with that reported by previous research of able-bodied cadavers. In general, there were significant differences in the body segment masses between the different methods. These findings support the implementation of the proposed database for developing valid multibody biomechanical models of Paralympic athletes with distinct physical disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current methods of assessing coordination in Paralympic classification are non-instrumented and are based on ordinal scales of measurement and therefore impede the development of evidence-based methods of classification. This paper describes an instrumented battery of tests that measure impaired coordination in a way that will permit evidence-based classification. Test-retest reliability and normative values for each of the tests are reported. Twenty participants visited the laboratory on two occasions, each time completing 11 tests: three running-specific, lower-limb reciprocal tapping tests (yielding five outcome measures); four throwing-specific, upper-limb discrete tapping tests (yielding four outcome measures); and four wheelchair-specific, upper-limb reciprocal tapping tests yielding seven outcome measures. Reliability was evaluated using Intra-class Correlation Coefficients (ICCs), Standard Error of Measurement, Limits of Agreement and Paired t-tests. ICCs for fourteen of the 16 outcome measures were excellent (ICC ≥ 0.80), although systematic bias was evident in two of these-a unilateral, running-specific lower-limb tests on the non-dominant side, and a unilateral wheelchair-specific upper limb test on the dominant side. ICCs for two tests-a bilateral wheelchair-specific upper limb test (0.74), and a unilateral wheelchair-specific upper limb test on the non-dominant side (0.54)-were good and fair respectively. Results indicate that 12 of the measures evaluated have measurement properties that will facilitate the development of evidence-based methods of Paralympic classification in athletics. Positional adjustment and increased familiarization may improve reliability in the other four. Studies evaluating reliability of this test battery in people with coordination impairments are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As governor of the world’s pre-eminent sporting event, the International Olympic Committee exercises considerable power on the world stage. It has also been widely accused of corruption, corporate greed, and hypocrisy. However, for all of the media attention that the International Olympic Committee receives, it has seldom been examined theoretically and in the context of global governance. Why have so few stakeholders, including the states that host the events and field the teams, engaged in serious efforts to hold it accountable for its actions? In addition, what can the experience of the International Olympic Committee tell us about accountability in global governance more generally? Drawing from conceptual treatments of accountability, we argue that the challenges of the International Olympic Committee are rooted in the organization’s social position and social power. The IOCs position in international society dilutes the base of potential accountability holders and exacerbates collective action problems, while its social power allows it to maintain a reputational shield to guard against meaningful accountability efforts. The article concludes by considering whether these dynamics ripple beyond the experience of the International Olympic Committee into other areas of global governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 16th Universiade, an international multi-sport event, was hosted in Shenzhen, China from 12 to 23 August 2011. During this time, officials instituted the Pearl River Delta action plan in order to enhance the air quality of Shenzhen. To determine the effect of these controls, the current study examined the trace elements, water-soluble ions, and stable lead isotopic ratios in atmospheric particulate matter (PM) collected during the controlled (when the restrictions were in place) and uncontrolled periods. Fine particles (PM2.5) were collected at two sampling sites in Shenzhen: "LG"--a residential building in the Longgang District, with significant point sources around it and "PU"--Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School in the Nanshan District, with no significant point sources. Results from this study showed a significant increase in the concentrations of elements during the uncontrolled periods. For instance, samples at the LG site showed (controlled to uncontrolled periods) concentrations (in ng·m-3) of: Fe (152 to 290), As (3.65 to 8.38), Pb (9.52 to 70.8), and Zn (98.6 to 286). Similarly, samples at the PU site showed elemental concentrations (in ng·m-3) of: Fe (114 to 301), As (0.634 to 8.36), Pb (4.86 to 58.1), and Zn (29.5 to 259). Soluble Fe ranged from 7%-15% for the total measured Fe, indicating an urban source of Fe. Ambient PM2.5 collected at the PU site has an average 206Pb/204Pb ratio of 18.257 and 18.260 during controlled and uncontrolled periods, respectively. The LG site has an average 206Pb/204Pb ratio of 18.183 and 18.030 during controlled and uncontrolled periods, respectively. The 206Pb/204Pb ratios at the PU and the LG sites during the controlled and uncontrolled periods were similar, indicating a common Pb source. To characterize the sources of trace elements, principal component analysis was applied to the elements and ions. Although the relative importance of each component varied, the major sources for both sites were identified as residual oil combustion, secondary inorganic aerosols, sea spray, and combustion. The PM2.5 levels were severely decreased during the controlled period, but it is unclear if this was a result of the controls or change in meteorology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which determines perceived health outcomes and participant satisfaction with a college campus-based triathlon. Information on the methods used in the study, the results and conclusion are discussed. It notes that triathlon has the ability to create significant positive benefits for youth and adults as multisport continues to grow and society embraces health and wellness as a lifestyle.

Background: Medical services at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (CWG) were provided though a purpose-built medical polyclinic, which had a fully equipped radiology department along with other services, set up within the main Games Village. Data analysis of radiology services offered at CWG has not been published before. Setting: Imaging services within the polyclinic, Athletes Village, Glasgow 2014 CWG. Aim: The aim of the paper is to analyse data on radiological investigations and assess the demand and distribution of workload on imaging services at CWG 2014. Methodology: Data on radiology investigations at the CWG 2014 was retrieved from the Carestream picture archiving and communication system (PACS) and Pharmasys (CWG official centralised electronic database system) and analysed. Results: Six hundred ninety-seven diagnostic and interventional procedures were performed. Of these 37.9 % were magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, 22 % were diagnostic ultrasound (US) examinations, 33.1 % were radiographs, 4.3 % were computed tomography (CT) scans and 2.7 % were imaging-guided interventional procedures. 88 % of imaging was performed on athletes and the remainder were performed on team officials and workforce. Demand on radiology services gradually picked up through the pre-competition period and peaked half way through the CWG. Conclusions: Radiology played a vital role in the successful provision of medical services at the Glasgow 2014 CWG. High demand on imaging services can be expected at major international sporting events and therefore pre-event planning is vital. Having back-up facilities in case of technical failure should be given due importance when planning radiology services at future CWG events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

the article discusses how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) can use the incentive of hosting Olympic Games and the World Cup to procure anti-discrimination legal reform. Topics discussed include the success of incentive to procure voluntary reform, the current state of the IOC and FIFA, and minimum standards to be adopted by IOC and FIFA.

Although it predates modern athletics, trail running is a sport branch recently introduced in the competitional calendar of the Romanian Athletics Federation, in the context of which at international level it is frequently discussed about introducing this sport branch into the Olympic Games. Nationally, we currently assist at the promotion of a large number of competitions as well as a continuous growth of the indicator of participation and interest of colateral factors. These unique types of competitional events create premises for new research directions that concern both internal and external phenomena of the specific instruction process, moreover of the different ways of approach, less concerned nationally and internationally. This article aims to surprise through interviews and processed pieces of information of the specific literature, positive as well as negative aspects that are contested by athletes and coaches approaches in trail running competitions and based on these aspects I highlight in a holistic manner, necessary sinergies from the perspective of factors and training methods on the following sequences: competition, recovery, prevention and/ or regeneration, depending on each case. I consider that, highlighting disturbatory factors as well as of benefic aspects that can be associated with practicing trail running, will increase the efficiency in the coaching process, being reflected in the improvement of the performance level and in diminishing risks that concern body integrity of its practicants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Myanmar is telling Asia ‘we are coming back!’ This is the time. Watch out! We are coming back. After the SEA Games, we will host ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations]. Big things are happening in our country.” “Kyaw,” an amiable rig coordinator in his early thirties, was relaxing on the ground drinking beer with his wife, passing the time prior to Myanmar's opening men's football match of the 2013 Southeast Asian or SEA Games. Fifteen days later—after a glorious opening ceremony, a slew of gold medals, and a celebratory closing ceremony—his assessment seemed prescient. The government newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, boasted: “With the honor of hosting the Games that returned to the country after a 44-year long wait, Myanmar successfully hosted the biggest regional sporting event.” Thailand's Nation concurred: “The country failed to overhaul Thailand as overall winners, but its symbolic triumph as host was far more important.” “Myanmar has basked in its host status and a rare moment in the international limelight after years in isolation under military rule,” declared Agence France-Presse in a widely syndicated article. “Some local and international observers thought Myanmar could not host the SEA Games. They were wrong,” boasted triumphant presidential spokesman U Ye Htut. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Between 2014 and 2016, Brazil will host a number of large events, where the Olympics of Rio de Janeiro are the most noteworthy. The tourism industry will be one of the beneficiaries. It has established an objective to bring 10 million tourists in 2016, doubling overseas arrivals. This can create many business opportunities for the industry. This paper analyzes this goal by examining two key factors linked to the Olympics, legacy and new tourism segments, in particular, seniors and accessible tourism. A study using content analysis of the bibliography about Rio 2016 will be applied to determine the current body of knowledge. Following this, a case study will be drawn upon the Barcelona and Sydney Games to establish the key elements of the legacy and their tourist outcomes. The findings will establish the main factors required to meet Brazil's tourist objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyse the evolution between 2009 and 2010 of residents of Tarragona's perceptions of the importance, impact and expected benefits of hosting the 2017 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona. A questionnaire was administered to two random samples of residents of Tarragona one year apart. The results showed high percentages of people who felt that this sporting event is either quite important or very important from an economic, social and sporting perspective and that it also has a high local and regional impact, albeit not so much at a national or international level. The residents felt that hosting the Mediterranean Games in Tarragona would be quite a benefit to almost all areas that are influential in a city's development (infrastructure, tourism, the economy, employment, sports and sports facilities), in addition to the advantages for political groups, athletes, and the organizing committee. The evolution of the two samples was negative for most aspects included in the survey. Lower means and percentages were observed in the 'quite' and 'a lot' categories for the 2010 sample. The results of this study are useful for events organizers in developing strategies to improve citizens' involvement, participation and identification with events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The incidence and factors associated with illness in Paralympic athletes have not been documented. Aim To determine the factors associated with illness in athletes participating in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Methods A cohort of 3565 athletes from 160 of the 164 participating countries in the London 2012 Paralympic Games were followed over a 14-day period (precompetition period=3 days, competition period=11 days; 49 910 athlete-days). Daily illness data were obtained from (1) teams with their own medical support who completed a daily illness log (78 teams, 3329 athletes) on a novel web-based system and (2) teams without their own medical support through the local organising committee database (82 teams, 236 athletes). Illness information from all athletes included age, gender, type of sport and the main system affected. Main outcome measurement Incidence rate (IR) of illness (illness per 1000 athlete-days) and factors associated with IR (time period, gender, age and sport). Results The IR of illness was 13.2 (95% CI 12.2 to 14.2). The highest IR of illness was in the respiratory system, followed by the skin, digestive, nervous and genitourinary systems. The IR in the precompetition period was similar to that in the competition period, but the IR was significantly higher in athletics compared with other sports. Age and gender were not independent predictors of illness. Conclusions Illness is common in Paralympic athletes and the main factor associated with higher IR of illness was the type of sport (athletics). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to understand the relationship between the model of entrepreneurial urban governance, which has one of the main features to make large projects of urban intervention, and the mega-sporting events. In this context, the entrepreneurial urban governance analysis has been developed. Then, the mega-sporting events are presented as a key role in strategy of this governance model and, finally, the article will also present the Olympic Games historical highlighting its transformation into a major brand. Moreover, large companies and the governments of the major cities around the world dispute the Olympic Games as regards to the major brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport and politics have long been linked, but the Olympic Games represent the most political sports event of all. The following article focuses on two of the most important aspects of the Olympics (and sports 'mega-events' in general) that students of politics and international relations could make a major contribution towards: the use of the Olympics by states to showcase the host nation and the hoped-for 'legacies' that arise from them. Both aspects are, of course, interlinked: the 'legacies' are often put forward as the key rationale for the bidding for, and hosting of, the Olympics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prima facie, spectacular public events and large-scale capital projects are an ideal vehicle for 'high politics' and the predilection of policy-making elites for grand, iconic and schematic visions that offer high-profile policy successes and historic legacies. Yet the prospective political rewards from such mega-events and projects must be offset against high levels of risk and complexity. Further, such schemes tend to be at odds with the prevailing doctrines and practices of the modern state: in particular its deference to market-based mechanisms and its liking for instruments of calculation and control. Indeed, mega-projects and events often prove uneconomic despite the predictions of forecasters. This review essay considers how the bidding and planning process for the London 2012 Olympic Games demonstrates this tension between high politics, risk and the preferred methods of governing the modern state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Owing to the separation into age groups at the first winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), athletes differed in age by up to two years, leading to a potential relative age effect (RAE). Objective The purpose of this study was to define the role of the RAE in the first winter YOG with regard to sex, type of sport and performance. Methods The birth dates and anthropometric data of all 1021 athletes (557 male, 464 female, 14-19 years old) participating in 15 sports were analysed. A χ² test was used to assess the difference between the observed and expected birth distributions. ANOVA (analysis of variance) and Kruskal--Wallis analyses were used to investigate differences in anthropometrics. Results The birth date distribution of the overall sample was significantly different from an equal distribution, with an over-representation of athletes born shortly after the cut-off date (χ² =284.7, p<0.001). A significant RAE was found in both male (χ² =245.1, p<0.001) and female competitors (χ² =74.6, p<0.001). An analysis based on the type of sport showed an RAE in all categories (strength--χ² =229.9, p<0.001, endurance--χ² =60.4, p<0.001 and technique-related sports χ² =25.2, p=0.001). Relatively older competitors were also over-represented among medal winners (χ² =47.9, p<0.001). Relatively older male competitors were significantly taller (p=0.005) and heavier (p<0.001) than younger competitors. No differences were found in female competitors. Conclusions The results suggest that relative age had a highly significant influence on participation in various sports regardless of sex. A possible strategy to reduce the RAE would be a fixed quota for each birth year within the two-year age group across events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: Taking into account the need for applied research on the most effective ways to prepare Olympians psychologically, the first purpose of this study was to gain more insight into the changes perceived by four athletes in view of their participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The second purpose of this study was to illustrate how using a holistic and dynamic approach to the identification of the perceptions of these athletes'' Olympic experiences can provide information relevant for the provision of individual ASP support to these athletes. Design: Using a prospective design athletes'' perceptions of changes were gathered prior, during as well as after the Olympic Games. Methods: A combination of interview (pre and post Olympic Games) and self-reporting (during Olympic Games) was used to describe athletes'' perceptions of changes occurring at athletic, psychological, psychosocial, academic/vocational level. Results: Results confirmed in first instance athletes'' perceptions of the multifaceted nature of their Olympic experience. In second instance, the use of a dynamic and holistic perspective allowed to identify that participants perceived (a) during the phase prior to the Olympic Games 14 changes at all four levels, (b) during the Olympic Games eight changes at three levels, and (c) during the phase after returning from the Olympic Games 11 changes having occurred at four levels. Conclusions: This study showed the usefulness of using a dynamic and holistic perspective not only in order to identify athletes'' perceptions of their Olympic experiences, but also to enhance ASP practitioners'' knowledge on the needs for a holistic and dynamic ASP-support provision. In this way, the effectiveness and efficiency of ASP practitioners working with athletes preparing for, or competing at the Olympic Games could be enhanced. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Second Half Program (SHP) is an educational sports program running in Brazil. It began in 2003 and was one of the Olympic educational proposals described in the Rio 2016 Olympics bid. Using sport as a tool, the SHP aims to deliver moral education and to promote citizenship in order to counteract “social exclusion” and “social vulnerability”. Our analysis of official SHP documents and interviews with key actors in several SHPs reveals that the SHP illustrates the view that merely participating in sport will instill moral and Olympic values. Thus, although it represents a clear advance in government sports education policies, both its organizational methods and the lack of a clear pedagogy seem to limit the scope of the SHP to sports teaching. It thus fails to reach the broader scope that should be approached in an Olympic educational program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, local cultural communities are called upon to support global mega‐events such as the Olympic games with the promise that this global occurrence is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for an urban artistic community. What evidence exists to support the premise that hosting a Cultural Olympiad provides a professional arts sector with positive and substantive legacies, sustained material and financial benefits, or increased national and international profile? Data collected on the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad suggest that the local arts sector did not enjoy any of the claimed global benefits. However, it is also clear that some arts organizations, by virtue of the artistic and operational decisions they took, were able to exert influence over and upon the outcome; this outcome ultimately depending on whether they elected to play for a global or a local stage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Potential exists for a more multifaceted and interrelated volunteering legacy from mega sporting events than has been recognised by previous research, including not only the continuation and development of volunteering activity, but also the contribution that activity makes to the social inclusion of volunteers, the economic contribution to the development of events in the region, the development of a skilled volunteer workforce and raising the standard of event volunteer management. This paper provides evidence for that claim via a case study of Manchester Event Volunteers—a volunteer development organisation established after the 2002 Commonwealth Games, which is still operating seven years later and provides a role model for volunteer broker organisations. The case study shows that local government played a key role in generating a volunteer legacy, but that legacy planning was limited by the imperative of running the event. Implications for similar events, such as the 2012 Olympics, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on the stereotype content model, we examined Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese' historical representations and future imaginations of China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Among Mainland Chinese, China's unprecedented economic growth and the resulted value competition led to the expectation of a more competent China in the future ( vs now; a ‘better tomorrow effect’) and a perception of a warmer and more moral China in the past ( vs now; the ‘good old days effect’). As the Olympics proceeded, the perceived compatibility of competence and warmth/morality increased and the good old days effect diminished. Hong Kong Chinese, who also witnessed China's growth but did not directly experience the cultural implications of globalization in Mainland China, displayed the better tomorrow effect only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]