SECURING SUSTAINABLE LEGACIES THROUGH CULTURAL PROGRAMMING IN SPORTING EVENTS

After the end of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, the city of Salt Lake faces the difficult challenge to keep its status as a world city, an attractive destination for tourists and an active, promising place for the locals. Salt Lake has received international acclaim for the ability to stage a very successful edition of the Games. This success has particular merit considering the difficult political circumstances leading to and surrounding the Olympic period. However, such a valuable achievement is no guarantee of a provision of legacies beneficial for the host citizens and regional neighbours in the long-term. This paper argues that a way to ensure the sustainability of hosting major sporting events is to ground them on cultural elements that are representative and distinctive of the host community. The argument is based on the research undertaken by Garcia (2001) to support the claim that the marketing of sports events can be maximised through cultural and arts extensions. The paper is also a complement to claims by Hall (2002 in press) that the success of great sports events should not be measured solely in economic terms but also considering its social impacts at length. The Olympic Games are seen as an event with great potential for social and cultural legacies thanks to its being rooted on an idiosyncratic tradition of symbols and rituals. Nevertheless, this symbology has been often transferred from one host-city to the next without major attention being paid to the particular character of the place, or by constraining any sense of locality into token gestures. A commitment towards framing sporting excellence and Olympic symbols within cultura