Skip to main content

London 2012 (Re)calling: Youth memories and Olympic ‘legacy’ ether in the hinterland

Kohe, Geoff (2015) London 2012 (Re)calling: Youth memories and Olympic ‘legacy’ ether in the hinterland. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 52 (1). pp. 24-44. ISSN 1012-6902. (doi:10.1177/1012690215581604) (KAR id:66752)

PDF Author's Accepted Manuscript
Language: English
Download (446kB) Preview
[thumbnail of Kohe %282014%29 London 2012 %28Re%29calling.pdf]
Preview
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
Request an accessible format
Official URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690215581604

Abstract

Engendering interest and support among young people was a key strategy for the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Part of the approach entailed promoting the event as a context and inspirational catalyst to propel young people's proclivities toward, and enduring participation in, sport and physical activity. Although a variety of participatory platforms were entertained, the discipline of physical education remained a favoured space in which enduring Olympic imperatives could be amalgamated with government policy objectives. In this paper data are presented taken from the initial three years of a longitudinal study on young people's engagement with the London 2012 Olympic Games, sport, physical activity and physical education within the UK's West Midlands region. Memory scholarship is brought together with Olympic critiques, legacy debates, youth work and discussions about physical education to conceptualise participants' anticipations and recollections of the London 2012 Olympic Games as a triptych of narrative fragments: each provides insights regarding youth experiences and the remnants of Olympic ether in the country's hinterland. The paper offers a means subsequently to think differently about how we might play with the qualitative sociological/historiographical moments (experiences, voices, accounts, stories, etc.) that we capture in and through our work.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/1012690215581604
Uncontrolled keywords: sport, London 2012, Olympics, Olympic Games, legacy, youth, young people, physical activity, Olympic memory
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > School of Sport and Exercise Sciences
Depositing User: Geoffery Kohe
Date Deposited: 18 Apr 2018 09:38 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:54 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/66752 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
Kohe, Geoff: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6683-6669
  • Depositors only (login required):

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year