ABSTRACT
As a result of a recommendation from the IOC Olympic Games Study Commission, in Novem-ber 2002 the IOC Olympic Charter was amended to emphasise the importance of ‘promoting a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host city and host country’ (IOC, 2002). The bidding process for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which concluded in July 2005, was the first Summer Games bidding process conducted under this amended charter. Conse-quently, although previous host cities had included a consideration of legacy as part of an inter-nal justification for public sector investment, London, together with Paris, Moscow, Madrid and New York, were the first candidate cities for the Summer Games explicitly invited to address the issue of legacy as part of their bids for the 2012 Games. It was an invitation to which London enthusiastically responded.
