Health-Related Attitudes and Behaviors Among Olympic Host City Residents From Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, and Beijing Olympic Games: Exploring Potential Legacies

Abstract

The potential power of the Olympic Games as an intervention that influences changes in health, sport participation, and exercise has been discussed in the literature as a legacy outcome. However, a temporal evaluation of health-related attitudes and behaviors has not been presented in the literature. The purpose of this study was to explore residents' health attitudes and behaviors, and further examine those constructs temporally (i.e., since the time from the conclusion of an Olympic Games). Data were collected in 2010 from convenience samples of Olympic Games host city residents in: Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, and Beijing. ANCOVA was used to analyze data among residents from each host city. Beijing residents held more positive attitudes and behaviors toward health-related issues, while the covariates of age and importance of physical spaces for physical activity and recreation significantly influenced health-related attitudes and behaviors across all cities at the time of measurement, which varied from 2 to 14 years for each sample since the conclusion of the Games. Implications for health legacy planning are provided.