This book shifts the focus from legacy as a retrospective concept concerned with what has been left behind after the Olympic Games to a prospective one, interested in the actions and interactions stimulated by them. It challenges our current understanding of legacy and reveals the potential of Olympism as a powerful catalyst for social change.

Vassil Girginov is Reader in Sport Management and Development at Brunel University London and Visiting Professor at the Russian International Olympic University. His work is concerned with understanding the relationship between the Olympic Games and social change in various cultural and economic milieux. Girginov's most recent publications include: Olympic Studies (4-vol. set; Routledge, 2015), Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (2 vols; Routledge, 2012-2013), Sport Management Cultures (Routledge, 2011), and The Olympics: A Critical Reader (Routledge, 2010).

List of Tables and Figures

Preface: The Whole Book in 500 Words

Acknowledgements

1. Untangling the Link Between the Olympics and Legacy: An Introduction

2. Olympism, Contentious Politics and Social Change

3. A Resource Perspective on the Olympics

4. Leveraging Olympic Resources

5. Olympism in Action: A Capacity Building Perspective

6. National Sport Organisations' Leveraging of the Olympics for Capacity Building

7. Host Country's Higher Education Sector and the Olympics: Interactions, Resources and Capacity Development

8. Olympic Interactions, Resource Leveraging and Capacity Building in Context: The Cases of the British Paralympic Association, British Cycling and the Russian Figure Skating Federation [with Nikolay Peshin]

9. Why Rethink Olympic Legacy? Conclusion

Index