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Craig Fenech has represented athletes and sports media figures since 1980. In Winter 2001, he went to Toronto to meet Canadian ice skaters Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, and said: “I think you can become household names in the US.” Little did they know how true those words would prove: a few months later, the reigning world champions in the Pairs Figure Skating event found themselves at the center of scandal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, when the Russian pair of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were awarded the gold, despite a f lawless display from Jamie and David. An international outcry followed which was resolved four days later when the IOC awarded the Canadians a second gold medal. Here Craig talks with Professor Jerry Dailey from Kean University about his views on the role of the sport agent, the business side of sport and the ice-skating scandal.

While the Olympic Games are always under the spotlight, the Paralympic Games are somehow ignored. This paper aims to invite the general public to think about the para-athletes and the differential treatments they received.

Among the participating countries, many of them were unable to win a single Olympic or Paralympic medal. When the dependent variable is left-censored, ordinary least squares regression is asymptotically biased downwards. In the literature, researchers typically employ the maximum likelihood Tobit model to take care of the censoring problem. However, some researchers argue that the Hurdle model has an advantage over the Tobit model in identifying the determinants of winning Olympic medals. Following their wisdom, this paper employs both the Tobit and Hurdle models in analysis.

The empirical evidence gathered in this paper suggests that population size, host status and average years of schooling are the big three socio-economic determinants when it comes to winning medals at the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games. The findings support the hypothesis that sports talent is randomly distributed and a large country has a higher chance to have talented athletes or para-athletes winning the Olympic medals. The strong host advantage also showed up in the following Paralympics but was not so strong at the next Olympics.

This paper not only examines the relationship between various social, economic and political factors in determining the success of a nation in the Paralympic Games but also attempts to identify possible non-traditional determinants.

Mega sport events (MSE) are immensely popular but also highly criticized because these include large public budgets and involve politically sensitive topics. In this context, there is an increasing attention toward legacy planning, the effort to confer long‐term benefits to a host destination through organizing MSEs, such as the Olympic Games. When it comes to event planning, large‐scale master plans are a common approach. However, in the Netherlands the authors see that an alternative development model is pursued called the Dutch Approach to prepare for the possible candidature to host the Olympic Games of 2028. This paper aims to analyze this approach with a specific focus on whether this approach has the potential to result in a positive legacy.

The research involves a literature review which distinguishes factors that positively or negatively influence event legacies. This results in a framework which is used as a guide for a content analysis of data on the Dutch Approach. Hence, data are obtained from analyzing academic and professional literature, policy documents, research reports, and newspaper articles on the Dutch Olympic ambitions, and the planning approach thereof. Moreover, data are derived from a study by the authors on the development of the area “Sportas Amsterdam”.

The research identifies factors that can contribute positively and negatively to the legacy of events. It provides a unique insight into the planning process of The Netherlands in the context preparing a bid for the Olympic Games of 2028. What can be learned from the Dutch Approach is that planning for a positive legacy is a long‐term and complex process that heavily relies on the support of a range of stakeholders. Due to the range of actors involved, it involves much negotiations and becomes increasingly difficult to achieve consensus.

The paper provides a reflection on the concepts of legacy and legacy planning, and outlines a set of propositions concerning the future of MSEs that present an agenda for further research. By doing to, the paper highlights the importance of focusing on how the relations between stakeholder involvement, planning approaches, and types of urban regimes influence the extent to which a positive legacy can be achieved.

The paper provides a state of the art overview of contributions on event legacy and legacy planning. It draws attention to conditions for positive legacies and implications for planning and governance approaches. It is argued that a top‐down government‐led approach to a MSE will probably have less impact on future tourism compares to the Dutch Approach.

This study constructs the influence mechanism model of sustainable marketing activities (SMAs), event image, commemorative product perceived value and tourists’ behavioral intentions (TBIs) in the sports tourism context of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Additionally, the article discusses the role of event image and product perceived value in enhancing the SMAs’ effect on TBIs.

The research analyzed 315 valid questionnaires from tourists in the Chinese market by structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that SMAs positively impact sports tourism event image, tourists’ perceived commemorative product value and TBIs. Meanwhile, event image and product perceived value mediate the SMAs and TBIs relationship.

Considering SMAs as essential for sustainable development, this paper contributes to the strategic management discipline. Additionally, the research expands the analysis of event image and product perceived value in the brand theory and customer behavior research.

The article outlines the principal value of SMAs implementation in enhancing behavioral intentions. It also reveals that a favorable event image and good perceived value can enhance SMAs’ effectiveness toward positively influencing TBIs, especially purchase intentions. It provides a new vision for nonprofit organizations to prioritize SMAs’ implementation in marketing strategies.

It is pioneering work with a complex research framework for SMAs implementation in the sports tourism context.