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Articles on London Olympics

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Inaugurated in February, the new Arena Porte de La Chapelle, which will be used for gymnastics and badminton, is seen as an opportunity for the area to shed its poor reputation. Miguel Medina/AFP

Does hosting the Olympics, the World Cup or other major sports events really pay off?

Do big sporting events such as the Olympics help boost tourist numbers in the long run? It all depends on where they take place, according to research.
Members of the Japanese artist collective Me (meaning “eyes” in Japanese) launch an inflatable artwork entitled Masayume, on the occasion of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO/Alamy Live News

Giant inflatables and flying dancers: Olympic art has always turned heads

The giant head spotted hovering over the Tokyo skyline in recent weeks is the latest in a long line of Olympic art moments. Debate and controversy are never far behind.
An example of the very first Olympic flag, known as the Antwerp flag. Marc Tielemans / Alamy

Why designing an Olympic logo is so difficult

A logo must artfully evoke the spirit of the Olympics as well as represent the host nation and it’s not an easy feat.
Uzbek wrestler Artur Taymazov (centre) was recently stripped of his gold medal from the 2012 Olympics due to retrospective drug testing. He also lost his gold from the 2008 Olympics for doping. Dimitris Panagos/AAP

Why drug cheats are still being caught seven years after the 2012 London Olympics

Retrospective drug testing is meant to help deter doping in sport, but will the public become indifferent to drug taking as more and more cheaters are caught?
There’s little evidence relevant government bodies are able to leverage hosting the Olympics to develop a sport participation legacy for the wider population. Reuters/Kevin Coombs

Why Rio, like Sydney and London before it, won’t turn locals into sports stars

The commonly believed mechanism for increasing sport participation assumes that elite sport performances result in a greater number of people taking up sport.
Urban planning was once an Olympic event, although the first gold medal – awarded to Germany’s Alfred Hensel for the Nuremberg stadium – turned out to be an unfortunate choice.

‘No More Hunger’ Games: if only we cared about the real-world Liveability Olympics

Imagine cities competed to eliminate hunger, poverty, unemployment, crime and greenhouse emissions, and to offer housing and transport for all. Don’t scoff – urban planning was once an Olympic event.
Will the Winning Edge strategy impact sport participation and limit sports’ abilities to develop Olympic champions? reuters photographer/reuters

Are the Rio 2016 Games a true measure of Australia’s Winning Edge?

Australia has had a good start to the Rio Olympics. But does that mean that the strategy created in response to Australia’s poor Olympic performance in 2012 is working?
Two news outlets have alleged there was widespread cheating in endurance sports between 2001 and 2012. Peter Mooney/Flickr

The science of doping and how cheating athletes pass drug tests

Organisers of the World Championship in Athletics will be on their toes after recent revelations of mass doping by endurance athletes. Here’s what you need to know about doping and how to evade it.

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