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.
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Notes
Alan Hubbard, ‘London: A triumph of the human spirit’, Independent on Sunday, 12 August 2012, p. 6.
Tim Lott, ‘We have surprised ourselves — and our potential is unlimited’, Independent on Sunday, 12 August 2012, p. 42.
Joanna Moorhead, ‘It’s not your looks that count, it’s giving your heart and soul’, Independent on Sunday, 12 August 2012, p. 39.
Ian Birrell, ‘Cameron must now embrace the spirit of the Games’, The Independent, 13 August 2012, pp. 42–43, p. 43.
Oliver Wright, ‘The Games humanised the face of the armed forces’, The Independent, 14 August 2012, pp. 14–15, p. 15.
Oliver Wright, ‘New Culture Secretary wants more coverage of women’s sports’, The Independent, 15 September 2012, p. 18.
Robin Scott-Elliot, ‘Olympic boost to sporting activity fails to inspire the young’, The Independent, 23 June 2012, p. 15.
Sally Tomlinson, Education in a Post-Welfare Society (Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2005), p. 79.
Peter Golding, ‘Telling stories: sociology, journalism and the informed citizen’, European Journal of Communication, Vol. 9 (1994), pp. 461–484, p. 476.
Anna Minton, Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-First-Century City (London: Penguin 2012), p. xxvii.
Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (London: Allen Lane, 2007), p. 6.
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© 2015 Stephen Wagg
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Wagg, S. (2015). Islands of Gentrification? London 2012: Politics and Legacy. In: The London Olympics of 2012. Global Culture and Sport Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137326348_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137326348_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57644-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-32634-8
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