The final evaluation report of the “Legacy & Sustainability” strategy of Paris 2024 focused on the social legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It provides particularly relevant insights given the number of contradictions that have been highlighted regarding the management of the post-Games period. Of the report's approximately 200 pages, Francs Jeux chose to focus on the legacy of Paris 2024 in terms of health: to what extent did the event succeed in encouraging French men and women to move more and adopt a regular physical activity?
School, a privileged playground
The report emphasizes that " Paris 2024 has fully grasped the major public health problem of sedentary lifestyles and lack of physical activity among children. "by activating two levers: the development of regular physical activity or sport and the adaptation of school spaces. The 30 minutes of daily physical activity in schools initiative, launched in February 2020 as a pilot program and then rolled out nationwide in 2022, is praised by experts, while 17% of children aged 6 to 10 are currently overweight This measure has also proven positive for children's attention spans. The 30 minutes of daily physical activity program for all schoolchildren is a striking example of how events can have social repercussions. " supports Holger Preuss, chairman of the evaluation monitoring committee.
Among the teachers in the Créteil Academy who have implemented the program, 94% believe it contributes to improving student well-being and 79% believe it improves the classroom climate. While the results since the system's widespread implementation remain mixed at the national level, the findings of the case study conducted within the Créteil Academy area suggest that it can nonetheless produce positive effects, particularly on improving classroom climate and students' ability to concentrate. " the report states, while also noting that the 30 minutes of activity are not applied in all schools, nor in all classes.
The "active schoolyard" initiative is also considered relevant in order to " to encourage the practice of physical and recreational activities "in playgrounds by adapting them specifically. By the end of 2024, nearly 670 playgrounds and recreation areas had been funded." While improvements and the provision of equipment are necessary, they are not sufficient to create an active schoolyard and to change behaviors over the long term, beyond the short-term effects generated by the novelty of a system.However, the report warns. It is necessary to integrate active school playgrounds into policies that support teaching teams to run these facilities. »
A strategy that is "generally relevant and coherent"
The desire to to incorporate more sport into the daily lives of the French "Through active design interventions in public spaces (for example, paint markings encouraging the use of stairs) has yielded less conclusive results. In contrast, the "1, 2, 3, Swim!" program is bearing fruit. Launched with the aim of increasing and improving aquatic facilities (particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis), and promoting their use by residents, it has supported 68 projects in 21 departments between 2021 and 2024." In the Île-de-France region, a total of 25 swimming pools have been planned or built: 19 newly created pools and 6 renovated pools. ", the report points out. The target audiences were indeed reached. "And" The Olympic and Paralympic Games have played a central role in transforming the importance given to this practice, now considered a fundamental skill. ».
The strategy deployed in this health component, " overall relevant and consistent ", thus obtaining results Encouraging but needs confirmation ", the report concludes. The occurrence of positive impacts from programs to combat sedentary lifestyles can only happen over the long term, just as their evaluation must be carried out by adopting a time horizon well beyond Paris 2024. "It is therefore too early to conclude whether or not these initiatives are effective. Furthermore, The encouraging results obtained so far have mostly been on a small scale, that is to say in very targeted areas or for population groups that are certainly priorities but limited in number ».
Changing scales is delicate, as evidenced by " the partially completed and delicately implemented generalization of the 30 minutes of daily physical activity requirement, or the relative failure of the deployment and generalization of active design infrastructure in cities However, this is not Only through widespread programs can long-term structural effects materialize, thus creating a legacy for the host country and its population. The report also expresses a number of reservations regarding the continuity of the systems and their ambitions. in an uncertain budgetary climate The CNOSF and the federations can unfortunately attest to this.
