ABSTRACT
Mega sport events such as the Olympics and Paralympics (the Games) create a unique opportunity to motivate governments, communities, organisations and individuals to work together to create lasting legacies. To deliver the Games, the organising committees (OCOGs) are dependent upon the contribution of thousands of volunteers, without whom bidding for and delivering the Games would be impossible. It has been suggested that ‘the Olympics of today are as much a creation of the volunteers as of anyone else’ (MacAloon, 2000, p. 21). This was further endorsed by John Furlong, the Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC) CEO, who reflected after the Vancouver 2010 Games that the real heroes of the Games were the volunteers (Furlong, 2010). However, the Games’ volunteers may offer more than their ability to help deliver a successful event; they may be part of a change in community volunteering after the Games, contributing to a volunteering legacy.
