2012 Olympics Community Intervention

INTRODUCTION
With the successful completion of the intricate bidding process, the 2012 Olympics was awarded to the United Kingdom and was scheduled to hold in the city of London, which as Sadd (2012) observed heralded the promise of the regeneration of an entire area in the Lower Lea Valley in East London. The British government eventually created what was called the Legacy Action Plan (LAP) which was going to drive the whole Olympic process. The LAP had five main Olympic commitments: a) in making UK an international standard of excellence in sports, in relations to elite accomplishment, mass contribution and school sport. b) To convert the heart of East London. c) To motivate the new generations to get involve in local volunteering, physical

From the foregoing thus, this research aims at a critical assessment of the impacts of community participation in the London 2012 Olympics, this is because, sometimes the euphoria that comes with being a successful bidder may not actually translate into long term economic development on the host communities. More so, this research aims at finding out the rationale behind the participation of host residents in an Olympic event as regards the London 2012 Olympics. Are there social legacies; in terms infrastructural regeneration, job creation, revenue accrual, growth in hospitality industry, that come with hosting the Olympics? What benefits are to be derived by communities as a result of their participation in a mega event such as the Olympics? If the Olympics is eventually hosted, who are the stakeholders involved? From the foregoing thus, this research is aimed at examining the impact of community participation in the 2012 London Olympics. The roles played by the different stakeholders such as event promoters, fundraisers and marathons shall all be looked into as well as the reason behind their involvement. At the end of which useful generalizations in

In discussing about community participation in mega events within the context of fundraisers and promoters, Matheson (2006:1) opines that, Promoters envision stores of wealthy sports fans descending on a city’s businesses such as restaurants and hotels, and showering them with fistfuls of dollars. Again, the inducements derivable from investments largely accounts for the intense vigour displayed by promoters in the lead up to a major sporting