ABSTRACT
The hosting of the Olympic Games is increasingly being justified in part because of the event’s perceived capacity to increase physical activity (PA) participation in the host nation. This chapter critically reviews the PA policies and initiatives delivered in association with both London 2012 and Rio 2016. Attention is given here to a range of social factors that render mass participation-based legacy objectives of this nature particularly problematic. These include the respective roles and responsibilities of the multitude of different organisations and actors that co-operate around PA participation, the practical difficulties that must be overcome in order to increase PA and the challenge of proving the effect of the Games on PA conclusively.
