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Key London Olympic legacy 'a failure', says Tessa Jowell Key London Olympic legacy 'a failure', says Tessa Jowell
(about 3 hours later)
The opportunity for the London Olympics to inspire a generation of children to participate in sport has been squandered, Tessa Jowell has said.The opportunity for the London Olympics to inspire a generation of children to participate in sport has been squandered, Tessa Jowell has said.
The former Olympics minister, who is standing to be Labour's candidate for London mayor, blamed her "wicked and negligent successors" in government.The former Olympics minister, who is standing to be Labour's candidate for London mayor, blamed her "wicked and negligent successors" in government.
But Dame Tessa said the other key legacy pledge - the regeneration of east London - had been a success. But she said the regeneration of east London, a key pledge, was a success.
The government said 1.4 million more people were playing sport each week. The government said 1.4 million more people were playing sport each week than when London's Olympic bid was won.
But a spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said more needed to be done to attract people from all backgrounds.But a spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said more needed to be done to attract people from all backgrounds.
Children 'robbed' 'Wasted opportunity'
Dame Tessa's comments come exactly 10 years after London was awarded the Games. She was Olympics minister when the decision was announced. Dame Tessa's comments come exactly 10 years after London was awarded the Games in 2005. She was Olympics minister when the decision was announced.
She told the Guardian: "Instead of a generation of children being transformed by sport a generation of children have been robbed of the chance to discover a sport they're really good at." She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "My particular concern is that the second legacy promise was to transform a generation of young people through sport.
She added: "We'll go on wringing our hands about obesity, wringing our hands about the other benefits of sport and wondering in another five years time why we haven't got more champions." "Actually children in school now are playing less sport than they were in 2009.
The former MP for Dulwich and West Norwood criticised the government's decision to cut funding for school sport, saying the move had "huge consequences" . "That's why it is a wasted opportunity."
"The most wicked and negligent part of it was winding up school sport partnerships. We're back where we started in 2002," she said. Sport England's latest figures show the number of people over 16 participating in sport at least once a week stood at 15.49 million in April 2015, down from 15.89 million in October 2012, just after the Olympic and Paralympic Games finished.
"If a platform had been created and sports policy had been baked in to public health policy, you wouldn't be worrying about obesity, you'd be investing in sport. You wouldn't be worried about heart disease, you'd be investing in sport. Dame Tessa criticised the government's decision to cut funding for school sport. In 2010, £162m of ring-fenced funding for the national School Sport Partnerships (SSPs) was abolished.
"You have to bake it into the Home Office, into health, into education and not see it as an optional extra in a way that sport on its own always will be." "We had a model of organisation that was the envy of so many other sporting countries around the world, that provided the organisational framework to make sure that the matches were organised, notes went home so parents knew when their kids were coming home," she said.
"That structure of organisation has been dismantled. And the evidence is that if you don't tell schools that the money for sport is dedicated to sport, it's spent on other things."
The former MP for Dulwich and West Norwood told the Guardian that "the most wicked and negligent part of it was winding up school sport partnerships".
She added: "I hope this is a huge stain on their consciences."She added: "I hope this is a huge stain on their consciences."
Lord Sebastian Coe, who was chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, wrote in the Daily Telegraph: "Pre-2005 there is little doubt sport participation was declining and had been for a long time, particularly amongst young people.
"Since bidding for the Games, that trend has reversed."
Dame Tessa, who remained shadow Olympics minister after Labour lost power in 2010, was more positive about the impact the Games have had on east London.Dame Tessa, who remained shadow Olympics minister after Labour lost power in 2010, was more positive about the impact the Games have had on east London.
"Here is the legacy - East Village, the best place in London to live - 3,000 homes there and more coming," she told the newspaper. "The regeneration has been extraordinary - a whole new park in east London, venues which are used both for elite sport and for the community, so that is absolutely the case," she told the BBC.
"But the fact is that the coalition government allowed our very tight, deliberately targeted definition of legacy to become diffuse. I always knew that was a risk." She said more homes had been built and more jobs created.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "We are investing over £1bn of public funding into grassroots sport over five years and there are 1.4 million more people playing sport each week than when the Olympic bid was won.A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "We are investing over £1bn of public funding into grassroots sport over five years and there are 1.4 million more people playing sport each week than when the Olympic bid was won.
"More needs to be done to attract new people from all types of backgrounds to participate in a variety of sports - which is why the government is working on a new sports strategy to challenge sporting bodies to deliver on the public money they receive, and to strengthen community sport across the country.""More needs to be done to attract new people from all types of backgrounds to participate in a variety of sports - which is why the government is working on a new sports strategy to challenge sporting bodies to deliver on the public money they receive, and to strengthen community sport across the country."