(ATR) The cachet of the Olympics looms large atop the inaugural Sports Cities Index, presented by Around the Rings and TSE Consulting.
Two months after the close of London 2012, the British capital leads the way with 2,060 votes in the first installment of what will become a biannual ranking built around both public perception and expert insight.
The feel-good factor of the 2000 Games is yet to fade, earning Sydney a runner-up finish with 1,752 votes.
Vancouver rounds out the top three and is easily the highest ranked Winter Olympics host with 1,662 votes.
"The impact of the Olympics is clear from the results," says ATR Editor Ed Hula.
"The Games provide an infrastructure needed to host future events. But the Olympics also raise the profile of a city, its image, helping to define public perceptions."
Australia’s second largest city also scores well as Melbourne, host of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, gets fourth with 1,566 votes.
Singapore places fifth with 1,466 votes after hosting the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010.
"It’s interesting that the top five cities all have a common link, each from a country that’s a member of the British Commonwealth," adds Hula.
"The culture of sport appears strong in these places, perhaps a reflection of their shared heritage."
The full 50 cities will be unveiled Friday at the ongoing City Events Conference in Lausanne.
The comprehensive rankings are built around a group of 50 cities selected through criteria such as staging recent and upcoming Olympics or other major multi-sport Games, hosting professional sports teams as well as organizing major championships or world-class events such as tennis Grand Slams and Formula 1 races.
An online survey conducted from Oct. 23 to Nov. 11 asked respondents four brief questions on those themes and then gave them the opportunity to suggest other cities for inclusion in future editions.
A group of 100 "TSE Survey Experts" drawn from international federations, National Olympic Committees, sports media and other influencers also responded to the survey.
Answers from these experts were combined with those from the general public to produce the final Sports Cities Index.
Stay tuned to ATR on Friday for the full ranking, which includes six of the last eight Summer Olympics hosts, the last three Commonwealth Games hosts, the last two Asian Games hosts and many more.
Written by Matthew Grayson
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
