Can the London 2012 Olympics ‘inspire a generation’ to do more physical or sporting activities? An overview of systematic reviews

Kamal Ram Mahtani, Joanne Protheroe, Sarah Patricia Slight, Marcelo Marcos Piva Demarzo, Thomas Blakeman, Christopher A Barton, Bianca Brijnath

**ABSTRACT** **Objective:** To examine if there is an increased participation in physical or sporting activities following an Olympic or Paralympic games. **Design:** Overview of systematic reviews. **Methods:** We searched the Medline, Embase, Cochrane, DARE, SportDISCUS and Web of Knowledge databases. In addition, we searched for ‘grey literature’ in Google, Google scholar and on the International Olympic Committee websites. We restricted our search to those reviews published in English. We used the AMSTAR tool to assess the methodological quality of those systematic reviews included. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The primary outcome was evidence for an increased participation in physical or sporting activities. Secondary outcomes included public perceptions of sport during and after an Olympic games, barriers to increased sports participation and any other...