A groundbreaking study that shows the impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on its host city has found the 2010 Games have had a marginal impact on Vancouver so far, though researchers say the study’s most important findings may be yet to come.
The Olympic Games Impact (OGI) Pre-Games Report, the second of four mandated by Olympic officials, sets the stage for two more detailed reports that will create a standard by which all future Games will be measured.
Rob VanWynsberghe, from the School of Human Kinetics and Department of Educational Studies in the UBC Faculty of Education, is leading a multidisciplinary team of sociologists, engineers, creative writers and kinesiologists in exploring what impact the Games may have on its host city.
All Olympic organizing committees are required to undertake the OGI Study, which was developed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to introduce a standardized cross-Games method of monitoring, measuring and reporting on the impact of hosting the Olympic Games.
“The project allows the IOC to build a long-term understanding of Games impacts, which will also help guide future bidders and organizing committees to maximize the benefits of the Games,” Vanwynsberghe says.
The Pre-Games report, released in December, found benefits for economic growth and sport development so far, including a higher medal count for Canada in the Winter Games and an increase in the number of businesses in Vancouver and Whistler.
In controversial areas such as effects on housing and the environment, the results were inconclusive, Vanwynsberghe says.
“What this means is that as a research group, we were not confident in the data that we were gathering, so in order to be more conservative, to play it safe, we did not roll these up into our assessment of the overall impact,” he says.
The OGI uses 126 IOC-mandated indicators to measure the economic, social and environmental conditions of the host city, region and country. The current study measures changes in the Metro Vancouver area between 2002 and 2006, compared to baseline data from 2001.
The next volume will be published in 2010 and the final report in 2013.