Reviving the Flame

Various media also brought great information. Newspapers, TV programmes and social media allowed
the author to follow the ongoing debates and learn more about previous Olympic Games.
A large part of the data was raised through primary researches: the author’s attendance to official
debates, forum, workshop and conferences. Furthermore, qualitative interviews with key stakeholders such
as the Sion 2026’ committee members, politicians, sport association, tourism offices and locals. All
interviews were semi-directed with open-ended questions, which endorsed each respondent to give their
own ideas, thoughts and opinion on the topic.
The first meeting allowed the author to test her set of questions. This evaluation offered her to improve
the questionnaire for the following respondents. Her first interviewee also helped her realise her questions
needed to be adapted for each person, based on their role and influence in this context.
Interviews, workshops and forums transcriptions were then analysed by coding and theming the key
information. A first analysis was made to unveil critical general aspects, the main themes that arose through
the coding were the (a) risks, (b) existing strategies, (c) definitions of human size event, and (d)
communities’ legacies. Later, a second analysis of each theme was made to critically assess each facet of
the interviews. Specifically, the communities’ legacies were divided into five sub-themes: (i) tourism, (ii)
environment, (iii) human capital, (iv) national identity and (v) sport & youth. These legacies are the key
element on which the author based her recommendation for the Sion 2026’ committee.
A second set of interviews was run to achieve a triangulation of the study and determine how realistic
it is for Sion 2026 to bring positive and long-term legacies to the host region and country.
Lastly, two ideas are presented in the recommendation, developed in the form of a “project draft”. This
allows the reader to see how one concept can be turned into a leveraging project within the organisation
of the Olympic Games.
Methodology 4