Simon Shibli

A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Sports Policy Factors Leading to International Sporting Success

Abstract Although an increasing number of nations invest large amounts of money in sport in order to compete against other nations, there is no clear evidence that demonstrates how sports policies can influence international sporting success. This paper provides an overview of important determinants that can lead to nations enjoying international sporting success. The literature reveals that more than 50% of the determinants of success are macro-level variables that are beyond the control of politicians. The meso-level contains factors that can be influenced by sports policies. An empirically founded theory on the policy factors that determine elite sporting success has not yet been developed. In this paper a conceptual framework will be presented that can be used for making trans-national comparisons of elite sports policies. Nine policy areas, or ‘pillars’, that are thought to have an important influence on international sporting success are logically derived from the literature.

The economic importance of major sports events: a case-study of six events

This paper reports the results of an economic impact assessment of six major sports events held in the UK in 1997. Major sports events are now regarded by many cities as a significant part of their tourism strategy. However, staging a major sports event normally involves the host city making a contribution to the costs. Whether such a contribution is justified depends on the economic benefits generated in the local economy. The results reported in this paper indicate the wide variability in such benefits as well as the difficulty sometimes encountered in predicting what these benefits will be prior to the staging of the event. An attempt is made to develop a typology of major sports events in terms of their potential to generate significant economic impact.

Sport and Economic Regeneration in Cities

Investment in sporting infrastructure in cities over the past 20 years was not primarily aimed at getting the local community involved in sport, but was instead aimed at attracting tourists, encouraging inward investment and changing the image of the city. The first example of this new strategy was seen in Sheffield with the investment of £147 million in sporting facilities to host the World Student Games of 1991. More recently, Manchester spent over £200 million on sporting venues in order to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, with a further £470 million expenditure on other non-sport infrastructure investment in Sportcity in east Manchester. In the British context, most of the cities following this strategy of using sport for economic regeneration have been industrial cities, not normally known as major tourist destinations. The drivers of such policies were the need for a new image and new employment opportunities caused by the loss of their conventional industrial base. This article analyses the justification for such investments in sport in cities and assesses the evidence for the success of such strategies.

The economic impact of major sports events: a review of ten events in the UK

Over recent years there has been a marked contrast between the discussions around the economic impact of major sports events in North America on the one hand and most of the rest of the world on the other. In the USA the sports strategies of cities in the USA have largely been based on infrastructure (stadium) investment for professional team sports, in particular, American football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. Over the last decade cities have offered greater and greater incentives for these professional teams to move from their existing host cities by offering to build a new stadium to house them. The teams sit back and let the host and competing cities bid up the price. They either move to the city offering the best deal or they accept the counter offer invariably put to them by their existing hosts. This normally involves the host city building a brand new stadium to replace the existing one which may only be ten or fifteen years old. The result is that at the end of the 1990s there were thirty major stadium construction projects in progress, around one-third of the total professional sports infrastructure, but over half of all professional teams in the USA have expressed dissatisfaction with their current facilities.

Sport equity : benchmarking the performance of English public sport facilities

Abstract In the UK, public sector sport plays a potentially important role in promoting the inclusion of all groups in society, but inequalities have existed traditionally within sport, typically across social class, age, ethnicity and disability. Using the database of Sport Englands National Benchmarking Service, this paper aims to investigate how public sports facilities were used by five disadvantaged groups over the past ten years. Research data were generated by user surveys at a total of 408 facilities in the years 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2007. The statistical evidence demonstrates a consistent pattern of numerical under-representation of the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups and people aged 60 years or more. Furthermore, there are significant and linear decreases in participation by young people aged 11–19 years and disabled people aged <60 years. Finally, facility type, location, size and management type were found to be major sources of performance differences for certain indicators. The variation across type of facility is greater than the other three structural influences.

An exploration of the direct economic impacts from business travelers at world championships

Business travelers visiting events have received limited attention from researchers compared with the attention paid to leisure travelers. In this study, economic impacts from various categories of visitors at various sporting events are compared with a specific focus on differences between business travelers and leisure travelers in terms of numbers and economic impacts. The article is based on empirical data from four different world championships in Nordic Ski, Ice Hockey, Judo, and Indoor Climbing. In terms of numbers, leisure travelers clearly outnumber business travelers whereas in terms of economic impacts business travelers are often equally important. These results indicate that particular efforts to describe business travelers may be needed in economic impact studies.

Does doing housework keep you healthy? The contribution of domestic physical activity to meeting current recommendations for health

BackgroundRecent lifestyle approaches to physical activity have included the promotion of domestic physical activities such as do-it-yourself or home maintenance, gardening and housework. Although it is acknowledged that any activity is better than none, there is a danger that those undertaking domestic ‘chores’ may assume that this activity is moderate intensity and therefore counts towards this 150 minute per week target The purpose of this paper was to report the contribution domestic physical activity makes to total weekly physical activity and the relationship between domestic physical activity and leanness in the Northern Ireland population.Methods4563 adults participated in this cross-sectional survey of physical activity behaviour. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using computer assisted personal interviewing. Gender and age group differences in domestic MVPA activity and the ratio of domestic to total MVPA were explored using non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests. Self-reported volume and intensity of physical activity (in bouts of 10 minutes or more) in the home and self-reported height and weight were used to determine the association between domestic physical activity and leanness using an ANCOVA having controlled for age, gender, socio-economic and smoking status.Results42.7% of the population report levels of physical activity which meet or exceed the current United Kingdom recommendations. Domestic physical activity accounts for 35.6% of the reported moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). For women, if domestic physical activity was excluded from total MVPA, only 20.4% would be deemed to meet current recommendations. Time spent in domestic physical activity at moderate or vigorous intensity was found to be negatively associated with leanness (P = 0.024), [R Squared = .132 (Adjusted R Squared = .125)].ConclusionsDomestic physical activity accounts for a significant proportion of self-reported daily MVPA particularly among females and older adults however such activity is negatively associated with leanness suggesting that this activity may not be sufficient to provide all of the benefits normally associated with meeting the physical activity guidelines.

A forecast of the performance of China in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 and the underlying performance management issues

This paper is concerned with making a forecast of the number of gold medals that China will win as host nation at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Historical data reveal that Chinas achievement in the Olympic Games has shown considerable improvement by all commonly used performance measures. However, Chinas success is heavily dependent upon four key sports and the performance of its women athletes who significantly outperform their male counterparts. A review of previous research reveals that reliance on population and gross domestic product as predictors of Olympic success underestimated the performance in Athens 2004 of some nations taking a strategic approach to elite sport development. For these nations, regressing gold medals won over time produced more accurate predictions of actual gold medals won in 2004 than a multivariate regression based on macro-economic variables. Based on our analysis, we forecast that China will win 46 gold medals in Beijing 2008. In making our forecast, we sound a note of caution that in some sports China has little room for improvement and in others with high number of medals available, notably athletics and swimming, there is no current evidence of China developing significant gold medal winning capability. However, Chinas ambitions are underpinned by strong central government support, the extensive use of performance management principles, and seemingly little concern for the issue of value for money. Under these conditions, Chinas approach to developing medal winning capability suggests that the strategies of priority and diversity are not mutually exclusive. For nations which have stated ambitions about the level of success they wish to achieve in the future, the principles raised in this case study of China are equally applicable.

Physical activity, walking and leanness: an analysis of the Northern Ireland Sport and Physical Activity Survey (SAPAS)

OBJECTIVE To report on the contribution walking makes to total weekly physical activity and the relationship between the volume and intensity of walking and leanness in a representative sample of the Northern Ireland population. METHOD 4563 adults participated in this cross-sectional survey of physical activity behaviour. Self-reported height and weight was used to determine inverse body mass index (iBMI) as a measure of leanness. Data across all domains of physical activity including self-reported volume and intensity of walking (in bouts of 10 min or more) were analysed to determine their contribution to leanness using ANCOVA, having controlled for age, gender, socio-economic and smoking status. RESULTS Over 68% of the participants reported walking >10 minutes during the previous week but only 24% report walking at a brisk or fast pace. Time walking at a brisk or fast pace for personal transport was identified as having the strongest positive association with being lean (F(1,4256)=10.45, β=0.051 cm(2) kg(-1) min(-1) (SE=0.016),P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS In addition to increasing the amount of walking and the percentage of people walking regularly, public health messages encouraging an increase in walking pace may be valuable to increase the proportion of the population meeting physical activity guidelines and gaining associated health benefits.

A forecast of the performance of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the London 2012 Olympic Games

This paper aims to forecast the performance of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the 2012 London Olympic Games. Previous research has relied primarily on population size and gross domestic product (GDP) to predict Olympic performance but the methodology used here follows the approach of Shibli and Bingham (2008), who predicted that China would win 46 gold medals in Beijing 2008. This approach is based on the thesis that elite performance is now more a matter of managed public investment and therefore less dependent on non-controllable variables such as population size and GDP. The Shibli and Bingham forecasts proved to be the most accurate forecast made, even though it was five medals short of Chinas total of 51 gold medals. In this paper, we extend the analysis to include total medals as well as gold medals and conclude that Great Britain and Northern Ireland will win 27 gold medals in London 2012 and 56 medals in total. Furthermore, we can reasonably expect Great Britain and Northern Ireland to win medals in 15 sports and 18 disciplines. If our forecasts prove to be accurate, then on all four measures 2012 will be Great Britains best performance in the Olympic Games since 1908.