Issue 31 Spring 2012 - Bases

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Creating a legacy for physical activity and health from the London 2012 Games Profs Ken Fox FBASES, Stuart Biddle FBASES and Marie Murphy FBASES discuss why this Olympic promise might be more of an Olympic dream. A key ambition of the previous Labour government’s legacy action plan (DCMS, 2008) was to help one million more people to participate in sport and one million more people to become physically active by 2012. The Coalition government has since dropped the physical activity target, and recent data from the Active People Survey suggest there is little chance of the sport goal being met; only 111,800 more adults are participating in sport since 2007/8 (~11% of one million target; Sport England, 2011). So where have things gone wrong? Were the original targets unrealistic? Have strategies been inappropriate? Our experts in physical activity and health provide comment. Prof Ken Fox FBASES, Emeritus Professor of Exercise and Health Sciences, FFPH, University of Bristol I understand the need to be bullish to win the opportunity to host the Olympics. Announcements such as “We expect the 2012 Olympic Games to be an inspiration to our children and young people, to get involved in sporting activity and engage with the UK-wide cultural festival” (Tessa Jowell, 2005) were not surprising. Above: Will watching the Usain Bolts inspire young people to be physically active on a daily basis? Daley Thompson’s passionate comment (2005) “I believe it will be the best Olympics ever seen because we love sport like no other nation. And the greatest thing to come out of the Olympics will be the many generations of healthy children” was typical of the time. However, neither could have really considered the long-term implications of their statements. A debate was staged at the 2006 BASES Annual Conference about the health and activity legacy of the Olympics. Prof Joan Duda and I were asked to present our view that the Olympics would not work in terms of population levels of activity. We based our case on an absence of recognisable psycho-social mechanisms by which watching the Games might stimulate lasting behaviour change in all but the already motivated athletic minority. Research clearly shows that many young people and adults find traditional sport participation unattractive, largely because it has been a source of failure for them. Unless we can offer opportunities in sport and activity that are personally rewarding through feelings of competence, fun or social benefits then we are not going to convince the health needy public to get moving. The successful Sydney Olympics indicated no increase in physical activity among the masses and a potential increase in sedentary time for men! Joan and I were shocked to see that the final vote was for a positive effect for the Olympics. Even among a group of objective sports and exercise scientists blind faith won out over a largely evidencedbased case. At the following year’s Annual Conference I banged my drum again and BASES issued a press release entitled “2012 Olympics will have no health legacy, warns expert”. I remain a fervent sports fan and occasional participant, but by this time it seemed clear that the legacy team had no ideas other than more competitive sport for tackling the enormous challenge of raising public activity levels. Since then, Michael Gove has pledged to produce more competitive sport in schools as the main plank to get kids more active and healthy, while at the same time announcing further cuts in the funding of initial teacher training in physical education. Leaders of some excellent grass roots schemes to attract a broader range of kids to sport and activity programmes are complaining of loss of funds because of the vast amounts spent on preparing athletes and staging the 2012 event. I am trying to resist the temptation of saying “I told you so” but embarrassingly for the organising team, recent data show a decline in activity in young people. It might not be too late to do something positive if we build on an idea that has so far fallen on very deaf ears. This field is plagued by the naïve view that competitive sport is the only solution to getting people active. What we need is a public health campaign that capitalises on the massive world media circus of the Olympics and that draws upon the success of our athletes. We need them to espouse a prominent message that it’s OK to win a medal but staying active for life, in whatever form that suits the individual, is much more important and available to everyone. Prof Stuart Biddle FBASES, Professor of Physical Activity & Health, Loughborough University At the risk of sounding like the TV election debates, I am tempted to simply say “I agree with Ken!” The Olympics was doomed to failure as a vehicle for promoting physical activity because 22 The Sport and Exercise Scientist n Issue 31 n Spring 2012 n www.bases.org.uk
televised elite sport is a totally different behaviour from healthenhancing physical activity! One mechanism that many believe could work is that of role models. We have well meaning and often inspirational people such as Dame Kelly Holmes and Colin Jackson CBE espousing the benefits of sport and the legacy of the Games. But the politicians have no idea of the mechanisms that translate watching such role models into activity. The psychologist, Al Bandura (of ‘self-efficacy’ fame), has written a great deal on ‘modelling’ effects and he is quite clear. The best effects (at least for gaining confidence to participate in the same behaviour) are when the person is watching a model similar to themselves, and sometimes overcoming adversity. On this basis, exciting, and entertaining as the Usain Bolts are to watch, he will not inspire me, or indeed many young people, to be physically active on a daily basis, such as taking up a different sport at school, or walking instead of car travel. He might encourage a few fast runners to seek more help in becoming sprinters, but those individuals will soon decide whether it’s for them and evidence suggests that enthusiasm will be short lived. Participation in sprinting will not affect public health. Maybe we should simply enjoy the Olympics for what they are – a fantastic spectacle of elite sport. Since I can’t get any tickets, I will be watching on TV, attempting not to be too sedentary, and then exercising afterwards. The two events will be unrelated! Prof Marie Murphy FBASES, Professor of Exercise and Health, University of Ulster Despite the rhetoric it seems unlikely that London 2012 will increase the physical activity of UK citizens. When attempting to attract the Games, bid teams get carried away with grandiose claims of the legacy that they will leave for the city, the country and indeed the world, but as Ken has pointed out there is no evidence that previous Games have increased physical activity and no reason to believe that London will be any different in this regard. For the 700,000 of us not fortunate enough to get hold of a single Olympic ticket, we will be treated to 17 days of coverage including 24 live streams with every event being broadcast. The advances in technology will mean that we will have greater opportunity than ever to watch the Games on our TVs, laptops and smartphones. It seems likely, with the Olympics occurring in our time zone, and with such extensive television coverage, that as a nation we will watch the Games more than any other, but of course this screen time will probably be sedentary time. Moreover, there is some evidence that this will be accompanied by more snack consumption and a net increase in energy intake over expenditure (Cleland et al., 2008)! Retail figures show that during the 2006 World Cup, there were huge rises in sales of savoury snacks, soft drinks and alcohol (www.betterretailing.com/2010/04/managingyour-store/money/world-cup-figures-mean-indies-set-to-cash-in/), and I am sure that the supermarket chains have sophisticated Olympic marketing plans to encourage us to consume more food and drink while watching lean athletes perform their amazing feats of sporting excellence. However, I am perhaps one of the ‘zealots’ to which Ken refers who act more on a ‘leap of faith’ than evidence when it comes to this particular issue. To balance the ‘Waldorf and Statler’ view presented by Ken and Stuart I take the stance that change in a population is made up, inevitably, of individual change and for me the Olympics provides the promise of inspiration for a new generation of sportsmen and women. Many of you reading this will have taken your sporting inspiration from a memorable Olympic performance. For me it was Olga Korbut’s performance in the 1972 Olympics in Munich that led me to gymnastics club and eventually into a life and career totally dominated by sport and physical activity. So although physical activity at a population level may not increase as a result of the Games, I am confident that London 2012 will leave a lasting if perhaps difficult to measure physical activity and sporting legacy for many individuals in the UK and around the world! Hope remains… Although our experts are not convinced that a measurable legacy will be achieved, the opportunity still exists, and strategies have been proposed (Weed et al., 2009). The Olympics might also have positive influences in other areas, such as promoting national cohesion. For example, in 1995, South Africa hosted and won the rugby union World Cup. After the dismantling of apartheid and years of international sporting isolation, South Africa at last had an opportunity to be ‘centre stage’ in world sport. The team adopted the slogan ‘one team, one nation’, and it was widely reported that the event substantially helped in the creation of a ‘feel good’ and united effect in a country where racial discrimination had created such division. Compiled by: Dr Garry Tew Senior Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University References Cleland, V.J., Schmidt, M.D., Dwyer, T. & Venn, A.J. (2008). Television viewing and abdominal obesity in young adults: is the association mediated by food and beverage consumption during viewing time or reduced leisure-time physical activity? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87, 1148-1155. Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2008). Before, during and after: making the most of the London 2012 Games. Sport England (2011). Active People Survey 5. Available: www.sportengland.org/ research/active_people_survey/aps5.aspx Weed, M., Coren, E., Fiore, J., Mansfield, L., et al. (2009). A systematic review of the evidence base for developing a physical activity and health legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Department of Health. Have Your Say: Share your comments and opinions on this topic - www.twitter.com/basesuk Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences Students are able to study the following programmes on a full-time or part-time basis: MSc Sports Sciences (Biomechanics) MSc Sports Sciences (Nutrition) MSc Sports Sciences (Physiology) MSc Sports Sciences (Strength and Conditioning) MSc Sports Sciences (Psychology) MSc Sports Sciences (Performance Analysis) MPhil and PhD research programmes are also available Programme Enquiries: MSc Sports Sciences Programme Leader, Dr Ceri Nicholas (c.nicholas@chester.ac.uk) For further details, go to www.chester.ac.uk/sport MPhil and PhD Research Degrees Opportunities for MPhil and PhD programmes of study are also available in the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences under the supervision of highly qualified and experienced staff. For more information and details of the application process, please visit our website www.chester.ac.uk/departments/ses/research/phd-apps or contact Dr Ceri Nicholas on 01244 553470 or email c.nicholas@chester.ac.uk The Sport and Exercise Scientist n Issue 31 n Spring 2012 n www.bases.org.uk 23
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Page 3 and 4: Contents On the Cover 6 The interdi
Page 5 and 6: Russ Coppack MBE and Prof Celia Bra
Page 7 and 8: Additional input Psychological inpu
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Page 11 and 12: Table 1. Cardiorespiratory fitness
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Page 25 and 26: Nanette’s notes Prof Nanette Mutr
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Page 31 and 32: Final word with Prof Ian G. Campbel

Issue 31 Spring 2012 - Bases

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