Islands of Gentrification? London 2012: Politics and Legacy

Abstract

This final chapter considers what the Olympic Games of London 2012 left behind. This is, of course, an important issue since it cannot be doubted, as the fictitious ‘Ian Fletcher’ acknowledged in an episode of the BBC’s Twenty Twelve, that London would not have been awarded the Games if it had not made extravagant promises as to their ‘legacy’. The chapter will be in three parts, dealing successively with: the apparent euphoria that attended the Games and their immediate aftermath, and the political and other claims made in relation to this euphoria; the extent to which the forecast of Lord Coe and his team that the Games would ‘inspire a generation’ had been, or looked like being, fulfilled, along with the (plainly linked) question of funding and sport provision, in schools and elsewhere; and the destiny of the various Olympic sites, the regeneration of this part of London having been widely seen as the decisive element in the success of the London bid.