The real heroes of community sport: Comment on grassroots multisport festivals and the Olympic Games

For over two weeks, all eyes were on the Olympic Games, with headlines galore. This global event attracted plenty of attention and capital, but it also repeated many myths and mistakes about its legacy. 
 
The differences between grassroots sports and competition-based elite sports are pretty obvious for all with insight into the grassroots sports sector. That goes for differences in objectives, reach, organisation and costs. These differences are obvious not least when it comes to multisport festivals. 

Numerous grassroots sports organisations hold multisport festivals. Such festivals have existed for decades, in some cases for more than 150 years. Two such examples are the Czech Sokol SLET Festival and the International German Gymnastics Festival, which both date back to the 1860s – decades before the first modern Olympic Games. 

The Czech Sokol SLET2024 Festival was held in Prague in the first week of July and the next International German Gymnastics Festival is coming up in Leipzig at the end of May 2025. Both are open for international participation, both celebrate local grassroots sports activities and both provide real participation experiences for children, adolescents and adults of all ages. 

While the Olympics may be flashy, it’s these local festivals that make a real difference. They encourage everyone—kids, teens, adults—to get active and stay healthy. And with 1.8 billion adults worldwide being inactive, we need more of these grassroots heroes! 

These festivals directly highlight the strength of civil societies, and the huge work of sports clubs – many driven by dedicated volunteer leaders – where access to participate, have fun, and create friendships are common objectives. The Czech Sokol SLET Festival 2024 hosted around 20,000 participants in friendly competitions and performances and the International German Gymnastics Festival 2025 will probably include 60-70,000 active participants from all age groups. 

Olympic Games – competition multisport event 

In the last few weeks, the 2024 Olympics Games took in Paris and various venues in France. 10,500 athletes competeed in 329 medal events within 32 different disciplines. In addition to this, around 4,500 athletes will compete in the Paralympics, beginning on 28 August – altogether 15,000 active participants will be involved in these events. The Olympic Games and Paralympics are “invitation only” events where the athletes have to qualify to join. 

Security and costs 

While grassroots multisport festivals are safeguarded by normal security teams, today’s Olympic Games face huge security demands. It is estimated that 40,000 agents per day provide security at the Games. Costs for hosting the event have also increased over the last decades. It is a fair estimation that the host cost for the Olympic Games today will be around €12 billion –  in other words, €1 million per active athlete. In comparison, host costs for grassroots multi-sport events would normally not exceed €200 per active participant. Indeed very different multisport events – and completely different realities. 

Enjoy the multisport events. Enjoy the Summer Olympic Games. But be aware of some of those legacy myths that the Olympics often trigger. The number one myth is that an event like the Olympics will inspire many people and increase sports participation. The Olympic Games will probably inspire some individuals to pursue a sports career, but as a booster to general sports participation, all data shows that it has no useful effect. Let’s remember that the true champions of sport are grassroots events that provide real participation experiences for children, adolescents, and adults of all ages. 

This article was written by Mogens Kirkeby, President of the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA). It was originally published on the ISCA website and has been republished here with ISCA’s permission. Minor editorial changes have been made to this version to reflect that sporanddev are publishing it after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have finished. 

All photos are from the Czech Sokol SLET Festival 2024. View the full gallery at https://slet2024.cz/galerie