[1] During the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing (from 8 August to 17 September), local authorities enforced strong measures to reduce air pollution during the events. To evaluate the direct effect of these measures, we use the tropospheric NO2 column observations from the satellite instruments GOME-2 and OMI. We interpret these data against simulations from the regional chemistry tr...

In July 2005, London was awarded the right to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The decision of the International Olympic Committee triggered considerable public enthusiasm across the UK. At the same time, it also created a host of logistical and technical challenges. Amongst these the first concern is to ensure the safety and security of competitors and of the public. This paper exte...

The purpose of the Olympic Games should be to contribute to the social development by leaving behind economic, cultural and environmental legacies to the hosting region. While tangible examples such as venues are often recognized as representative legacies of the Olympics, intangible aspects such as the environment, culture, policy and human resources have been gaining in importance. The Olympi...

Many of us winter sport enthusiasts will still remember the last Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver 2010: fantastic organisation and weather—a real ‘folk festival’ with street parties up in Whistler and in downtown Vancouver. However, we also remember a high number of injuries and tears of disappointment among athletes in the spectacular snowboard and ski freestyle races at Cypress Mountain spec...

Measuring the performance of participating nations in the Olympic Games is an important application of data envelopment analysis (DEA). Prior literature only considers participating nations’ performance in the Summer Olympic Games. It may be unfair to some nations who are good at the Winter Olympics, but poor at the Summer Olympics. Therefore, we believe it is better to consider the two Olympic...

It is now ten years since the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 and questions remain as to how the Greek government has dealt with the Olympic legacy. It is true that the everyday life of the inhabitants of Athens has improved to an unprecedented degree as a result of the mandatory infrastructure projects that were carried out, for example with regard to means of transportation, the rehabilitation o...