Abstract
The decision to award the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games to London has focused interest on the lasting legacy of benefits and problems that may result from staging the games. This paper explores the nature and characteristics of the sports legacy arising from those games. It opens by considering the meaning of Olympic sports legacy, and then gives a brief analysis of the sports legacies associated with the two previous London Olympics (1908 and 1948). It then considers the legacy promises made in the bid documents for London 2012, before examining the progress made and challenges encountered during the post-award development phase for managing sports legacy — not least in view of the prevailing climate of economic retrenchment.