Literature Review on Sustainable Olympic Games

Question: Describe about sustainable Olympic Games? Answer: Introduction: Given that the Olympic Games are now-a-days considered as events where sustainability is much sort-out issues, a number of studies examine them in details. Increasingly different views emerge about the factors that can contribute towards making Olympic Games achieve a sustainable status. Analysis and Discussion: An article by Furrer (2002) has examined several examples and recommendations, and infers that by hosting Olympic Games, one can create opportunities for some sort of sustainable development for cities and regions. Towards this end several efforts would be necessary for full understanding over the format for the Olympic Games thereby fitting into various strategies for sustainable development at urban as well as regional level. The Games at one hand provide greater opportunities for cities hosting them in terms of facing global level challenges on competitiveness, and at other hand these game also extend the hosting cities and regions including IOC the opportunities for promoting sustainable development. Implementing the concept of sustainable development comes under the purview of IOC as special type of responsibility and it is due to the fact that Olympic Movement can take active role to promote steps towards sustainable development. Another article by Holden et al. (2008) presents insights on Vancouvers commitment towards hosting a sustainable Olympic Games during 2010. The focus was to develop interests towards sustainability at local as well as international level that can lead to possible legacy for international level movement in Winter Olympics. By using 4 different scenarios, the paper provides new knowledge on the limits of meaning behind sustainability in mega-event contexts where communication of message on sustainability emerge to be the best and lasting type of legacy. In an article, Shipway (2007) unearths the opportunities from the 2012 Games which can deliver the real as well as tangible kind of changes to sport followed by their health benefits. However the challenge in attitudinal change in sport as well as physical activity continue to exist which would be necessary to maintain the legacy of 2012 Olympic -Paralympic Game. However Roper (2006) in his paper critically evaluates the theoretical underpinnings of carbon emission in suitability giving example of 1994 Winter Olympics on Lillehammer. This article examined the challenges in reducing harmful effects mainly of environmental nature in gaming events. This recommends for developing nation should get necessary financial level assistance from global level donors to tackle this problem so as to achieve sustainability. Another paper on Olympic legacy policy development by Girginov Laura (2009) by use of constructivism in case of sports development, conceptualizes the interactions and changing perceptions towards better understanding of sustainability. This paper uses theory of social construct and collective-contested goals. This article also proposes for implementing process based approach for sustainability in Olympic sport research. Analysis of 3 Asian Olympic Games by article of Horton Saunders (2012) examines the legacies in terms of convergence, disparity and geopolitics. They infer that now the Olympic Games both reflect implicitly the agendas and aspirations in addition to achievements in better ways. Conclusion: The critical review of above literatures mainly in terms of theoretical connotation present a holistic picture of sustainability as a concept important in Olympic Games. This not only finds various circumstance or factors behind sustainability but also provides solution for implementation with lot of implications in future across the globe. Reference: 1. Furrer, Philippe 2002, Sustainable Olympic Games: A dream or a reality?, Bollettino della Societ Geografica Italiana, Serie XII, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 1-31.2. Holden M, MacKenzie J, VanWynsberghe R, 2008, Vancouvers promise of the worlds first sustainable Olympic Games, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 26, no. 5, pp 882 905.3. Shipway, Richard 2007, Sustainable legacies for the 2012 Olympic Games, Perspectives in Public Health, 127, no. 3, pp. 119-1244. Roper, Tom 2006, Producing environmentally sustainable Olympic games and greening major public events, Global Urban Development, 2 no. 1, pp. 1-5.5. Girginov, Vassil Laura, Hills 2009, The political process of constructing a sustainable London Olympics sports development legacy, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 161-181.6. Horton, Peter Saunders, John 2012, The East Asian Olympic Games: what of sustainable legacies?, The International Journal of the History of Sport, vol. 29, no .6, pp. 887-911.