ABSTRACT
There is no legacy! This is what the weight of evidence from two worldwide systematic reviews suggests about the socioeconomic legacies most often sought from major multisport events such as the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (McCartney et al., 2010; Weed et al., 2009). Or, to be more precise, there is no inherent legacy. Rather, advanced planning and long-term legacy goals are required to secure legacy benefits (McCartney et al., 2010), something that was recognised more than four years before the start of the London 2012 Games by the then Minister for the Olympics, Tessa Jowell, in the then government’s Legacy Action Plan (Department for Culture, Media and Sport [DCMS], 2008):
Too often in the past, governments have expected major events to bring automatic windfall benefits. But we know now that nothing is guaranteed without careful planning and initiative from the outset.
(Jowell, in DCMS, 2008: p. 2)