UBC professors Bob Sparks and Rob VanWynsberghe are spearheading the first IOC mandated Olympics Games Impact research project. – photo by Martin Dee
Can the Olympics contribute to sustainability in Canada and around the world?
We will be one step closer to knowing when the first report from the Olympic Games Impact (OGI) research project, conducted by UBC researchers, is released in June.
Two additional reports will follow – one in late 2010 and the other in 2013.
The OGI Research Project, designed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is a standardized method of monitoring, measuring and reporting on the long-term impact of hosting an Olympic Games. It is the first IOC mandated OGI study. The IOC plans to use the results to make future games more sustainable.
UBC has been contracted by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) to measure changes based on 126 national and regional environmental, social and economic scales required for the OGI report between 2001 and 2013.
Professor Bob Sparks, Director, UBC School of Human Kinetics and Dr. Rob VanWynsberghe from the School of Human Kinetics and Department of Educational Studies in UBC’s Faculty of Education are the UBC leads on the project along with a team that includes UBC students.
“OGI offers an objective framework for assessing the potential impact of the Games on a host country and region,” says Sparks. “One potential application is that future organizing committees can use the results to help ensure they are realizing their own potential social, economic, and environmental benefits.”
A key objective of the project is to create a database of information that is common to all Games. All future Olympic Organizing Committees will be required to undertake an OGI study in conjunction with an independent research organization.
“The indicators measure, for example, the impact on housing, accessibility, and physical activity,” says Sparks. “The fundamental questions that OGI is looking to answer are: has a host city and country benefitted from holding an Olympic Games and if so, how?”
An OGI Program Baseline Report on the 2010 Winter Games was completed in 2007 by the Fraser Basin Council, a non-government organization that reports on the social, economic and environmental health of B.C. communities. The report provided baseline data for Vancouver, B.C. and Canada prior to the Games. For the remaining three reports, the UBC team will track changes in the baseline indicators.
OGI is for internal IOC purposes although VANOC will make the reports available to the public on request.
The London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games (LOCOG) has appointed the national archiving service for the UK, the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) as its OGI Researcher. ESDS is a joint venture between the University of Essex and the University of Manchester.