The Influence of the 1992 Earth Summit on the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona: Awakening of the Olympic Environmental Dimension

Abstract

Barcelona’92 developed an urban regeneration of abandoned areas introducing some environmental measures. At the same time, ecological issues gained global social and political awareness. One month before the Games of the XXV Olympiad, the Earth Summit in Rio decreed conclusions that were adopted by the International Olympic Committee in the following years. However, the 1992 Summer Olympics already implemented some ecological awakening initiatives, before Olympism officially decreed its third green dimension. Therefore, Barcelona’92 proved that ecological matters could be communicated at the Olympics, something influenced by the international impact of the Earth Summit. Such influence motivated communication projects like the exhibition ‘Beloved Earth’ during the Games, pedagogical activities at the Youth Camp, the Earth Pledge mural in the Olympic Village and the planting of a number of trees equivalent to the amount of paper consumed. The implementation of these initiatives paved the way for a later integration of an eco-friendly corporate image within the Olympic Movement.