Legacy of the 2012 Summer Olympics
The London 2012 Olympic Legacy is the longer-term benefits and effects of the planning, funding, building and staging of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in summer 2012. It is variously described as: economic – supporting new jobs and skills, encouraging trade, inward investment and tourism sporting – continuing elite success, development of more sports facilities and encouraging participation in schools sports and wider social and volunteering – inspiring others to volunteer and encouraging social change regeneration – reuse of venues, new homes, improved transportation, in East London and at other sites across the UK. The 2012 legacy is coordinated by the UK Government who appointed Lord Sebastian Coe as the London 2012 legacy ambassador in August 2012. Examples of the 2012 legacy benefits and results include: learning – shared knowledge and lessons learned from the construction of the Olympic Park and preparing and staging the Games economic – 2012 apprenticeships in broadcasting companies including the BBC and ITV regeneration – the re-opening of the Olympic Park as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in July 2013 tourism – the Games' long term benefits on London's and Britain's tourism industry Bid Pledges The London bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games included bid chairman Lord Coe placing a pledge to use the events to inspire two million people to take up sport and physical activity at the heart of the bid. Legacy includes sporting, economic, cultural, and environmental benefits, and aims to ensure that no "white elephants" were created by the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics. The London Legacy Development Corporation is a mayoral development corporation responsible for the Olympic Park area. Construction Phase – The Big Build The Olympic Delivery Authority stated that legacy use and community regeneration were "locked-in" to the planning and designing of Olympic and Paralympic venues and infrastructure, and cited the Olympic Park Aquatics Centre and Olympic and Paralympic sailing facilities in Weymouth as examples showing "a clear focus on sporting, economic, social, and environmental legacy". Legacy plans Since the London 2012 Paralympic Games finished on 9 September 2012 the UK Government has unveiled an updated Legacy Plan. Its main points include: increased funding for elite sport investment to turn the Olympic site into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park 20 major sporting events to UK by 2019, with more bids in progress £1bn investment over the next five years in the Youth Sport Strategy, linking schools with sports clubs and encouraging sporting habits for life introduction of the School Games programme to boost schools sport and county sport festivals continued funding for International Inspiration, the UK's international sports development programme There have been several previous legacy plans. These include: Legacy Plan 2010 In December 2010, the Government published a new Legacy plan, which set out the legacy vision for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and the detailed plans underpinning it. It identified four areas to focus on: harnessing the UK's passion for sport to increase grassroots participation, particularly by young people,