The Role of Large-Scale Sporting Events in Host Community Education for Sustainable Development: An Exploratory Case Study of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between large-scale sporting events (LSSEs) and education for sustainable development (EfSD) from the perspective of the host communities in which they take place. Over the past decade there has been an increasing acknowledgement by both the owners of these types of events and their hosting communities that they offer meaningful opportunities to engage in practices linked to EfSD. This acknowledgement, however, has not been accompanied by any discernible interest by researchers. This exploratory study goes some way towards redressing this situation and in so doing provides a platform upon which future research in this area can be built. Additionally, its findings are intended to be of value to communities who are bidding for, or hosting, LSSEs. A case study-based explorative research approach was employed in this inquiry utilizing the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games (SOG). This event was chosen in part because its practices in the sustainability area are generally well documented, but more importantly because it represents a watershed event in terms of the engagement of a LSSE with a sustainable development agenda. The conceptual framework used to guide this study drew upon stakeholder theory and the limited literature associated with sustainable development and LSSEs. Secondary data in the form of reports, studies, audio visual, and other material, along with personal interviews, were used to explore the elements of this proposed framework and their relationship to one another. The study found the process of EfSD in the context of the SOG to be: dominated by the government sector; involve a diverse range of programs and initiatives; largely of an informal educational nature; and to have impacted organizations, groups, and individuals (to varying degrees) across the community. The EfSD process was also found to have been influenced by a number of factors, with some serving to strengthen the process, while others acted as constraints upon it. Additionally, the study identified a number of host community EfSD legacies, along with the potential for such legacies to extend to non-hosting communities.