Little legacy of physical activity from Commonwealth Games, report finds

A new report into the impact of Glasgow's 2014 Commonwealth Games shows that there has been a negligible impact on physical activity levels, despite other benefits.

Coming on the eve of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, the report was compiled by the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council.

It showed that while visitor numbers were up in the city, especially to Games venues, the participation levels in sport in Scotland hadn’t changed.

The Scotland team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Picture: Michael Gillen

The “Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Legacy reported” noted that the hugely successful event of four years ago had field to yield ‘a step change in population levels of physical activity in Scotland’.

That conclusion chimes with the findings of an interim report by the Health and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament, who wrote that ‘they saw no current evidence on an active legacy from the 2014 Games.’

The findings of the report, reported by the BBC, did highlight positives in transformational housing changes brought about by the re-purposing of the Athletes’ Village.

Residents of the former Athletes’ Village in Dalmarnock were surveyed as part of the report, and most reported a positive experience of both their homes and the Village as a whole.