Youth Olympic Games (YOG) 2012—Mission Accomplished? A Retrospective Analysis of Intangible Legacies and the Fulfillment of the YOG’s Goals

Abstract

Even though intangible legacies play an important role in the context of major sports events, research lacks both in depth and breadth. This paper, therefore, investigates intangible legacies of the Innsbruck 2012 Youth Olympic Games by surveying young residents (n = 1,338) 3 years after the event was staged. Special attention was paid to the youth’s level of involvement in the event. Additionally, the fulfillment of the YOG’s goals was analyzed. The results revealed that the YOG’s goals were mostly perceived as fulfilled. Although the local youth had overwhelmingly positive associations with and a positive opinion about the YOG, the event affected their lives only to a minor extent. Overall, our findings confirmed the extant literature and extended it by providing fundamental insights into the event’s image, which can be useful for future YOGs.

2012年青年奥林匹克运动会使命是否已完成? 无形资产的回顾性分析和青年奥林匹克运动会目标的实现

虽然无形资产在重大体育赛事中发挥着重要作用, 但对其的研究缺乏深度和广度。因此, 在体育赛事举办三年后, 本文通过调查1,338名青年, 对2012年因斯布鲁克青年奥林匹克运动会的无形资产进行了研究。在研究过程中, 我们重点关注了青年对体育赛事的参与程度。同时, 我们也对青年奥林匹克运动会的目标做了相关分析。结果显示, 青年奥林匹克运动会的目标大多都实现了。虽然当地的年轻人对青年奥林匹克运动会有着绝对积极的想法, 但是这项赛事只影响了她们生活的一小部分。总的来说, 我们的发现不但证实了现存文献, 而且为赛事形象提供的深刻见解使之更为丰富, 这将有助于未来对青年奥林匹克运动会的研究。

Keywords:

• YOG
• young inhabitants
• retrospective
• intangible legacies
• YOG’s goals

关键词:

• 青年奥林匹克运动会
• 年轻的居民
• 回顾性
• 无形资产
• 青年奥林匹克运动会的目标

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Tyrolean School Authority, the principals, teachers, and school pupils for their support and willingness to participate in this study. Furthermore, the authors thank the 2014/15 Advanced Research Grant Programme of the IOC Olympic Studies Centre for its support.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maximilian Seidl

Maximilian Seidl (BSc, University of Innsbruck, Austria) is a junior scientist focusing on leisure, sport events and tourism.

Roman Nagiller

Roman Nagiller (MSc, University of Innsbruck, Austria) is a former graduate student inStrategic Management at the University of Innsbruck. He currently works as Junior Sponsoring Manager for BORA, Austria.

Anna Lang

Anna Lang (BSc, University of Innsbruck, Austria) is a junior scientist with focus on sports events and sports tourism.

Sabrina Scheiber

Sabrina Scheiber (MSc, University of Innsbruck, Austria) is a former graduate student in International Business Management at the University of Innsbruck. She currently works as COO for innsbruck-tirolsports, Austria.

Martin Schnitzer

Martin Schnitzer (PhD, University of Innsbruck, Austria) is a senior scientist at the Department of Sport Science at the University of Innsbruck. His research interests include the analysis of sport event legacies and sport tourism-related topics. His work has appeared in such journals as the European Journal of Sport Science, Sport Management Review, Tourism Management Perspectives, among others.