ABSTRACT
The focus on legacy is typically on current (or future) Olympic Games for the potential legacies these events can bring to the host regions and countries, with (usually flawed) ex-ante economic analyses leading the charge and an increasing interest in social and environmental legacies emerging. However, some long-finished Olympic Games are still or even only beginning to demonstrate key benefits. For example, the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games allowed the province of Quebec to lead Canada and the other provinces in terms of “amateur” sport funding, with the result being that a large percentage (sometimes even a majority) of the Canadian delegations in the more recent past were Quebecers. The 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games left a legacy for all future OCOGs of the TOP programme sponsors. As well, the facilities left behind after 1988 are now providing fruitful ground for the training of winter sport athletes. Next, an unexpected legacy for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games has been that it has become the convention capital of the world. Finally, Innsbruck (Austria) was able to use the venues built for the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Winter Games when it hosted the 2012 Winter YOG, thereby substantially decreasing the cost of hosting the first Winter YOG and demonstrating a positive legacy stemming from events hosted over 40 years ago.
