Dr Graham Brown work has mostly been connected with sports at different scales; from community-driven events to mega events. He has developed specialised expertise about the relationship between the Olympic Games and tourism from a variety of perspectives. Dr. Brown was a member of a state government “mission to Atlanta” to learn lessons for the Sydney Olympic Games and provided advice to the Canadian Department of Heritage about monitoring impacts of the 2010 Olympic Games. He was invited by the IOC to act as a rapporteur at the first world Conference on Sport and Tourism (Spain, 2001), made a keynote presentation at the first Commonwealth Conference on Sport Tourism (Malaysia, 2008) and chaired a session at the Sports & Events Tourism Exchange in 2014 to examine the benefits for Durban, South Africa of hosting the Commonwealth Games.
Lecture abstract
This presentation will describe the findings of a study which examined the spectator experience at the London 2012 Olympic Games. A questionnaire, distributed to spectators at event venues during competition, examined levels of sport involvement, satisfaction with the event experience and future intentions to participate in sport. The findings will be considered in the context of previous studies which have examined the relationship between events and sport participation and the measures adopted in the host country to use the 2012 Olympics to inspire participation. The presentation will offer insights about the distinctive challenges of the Olympic Games as the setting for academic research and, having studied the Olympics for over twenty years – from Atlanta to Rio via Sydney, Salt Lake City, Beijing, Vancouver and London, Professor Brown will review some of the key lessons for host cities about when and how to gain benefits from the Games.