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This study investigates Chinese perceptions of Rio’s destination image before and after the 2016 Olympics. Samples of 573 and 564 residents from Shanghai were surveyed before and after the event. The Olympics raised awareness of Rio and as an Olympic host city. Post-games perceptions of affective image and tourist attractions were higher for people aware that Rio had hosted the Olympics. However, pre-games perceptions of tourism infrastructure and service in Rio were lower for participants aware that Rio would host the Olympics, and that the post-games perceptions of tourism infrastructure and service were lower than pre-games perceptions.

Research question: This article explores policy transfer in the context of (non-professional) elite sport development through a detailed examination of Chinese elite swimming organisations since the early 2000s. The analysis is structured according to the five main aspects of policy transfer: rationale, actors, sources, elements and content, and conditioning factors.\ud Research methods: Data were collected from 15 semi-structured interviews with officials, coaches and scholars. These interviews were complemented by a content analysis of official and semi-official documents from both relevant sports governing bodies and influential Chinese media.\ud Results and findings: The major findings are that (1) the most important factors propelling the policy transfer were poor performances at major international sports events and a desire to be successful at the home Olympic Games; (2) the key policy transfer actors included government ‘insiders’ and foreign experts; (3) Australia was the main source of new policy because of a combination of political, geographical, economic and sport-specific factors; (4) the policy content transferred focused mainly on ideas, methods and techniques rather than deeper-level structures and ideology; and (5) source nations sought to constrain the policy transfer process.\ud Implications: Although policy transfer can be effective, there can be unintended negative consequences. Policy transfer is a bilateral process which is reliant upon the support of organisations or individuals from source nations. This research can stimulate elite sport programmes to consider the merits of pursuing policy transfer, when to pursue policy transfer and how to pursue policy transfer.

This paper investigates the influences of change recipients’ supportive behaviors toward the national reform in the Chinese football sector. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews (n = 29), which were conducted with change recipients from national and local football associations and commercial football clubs. Drawing on an integrated conceptual framework, the findings suggest that the change-supportive behaviors demonstrated by the change recipients were influenced and incentivised by managerial factors (i.e., management competency, communication channels, participation in decision-making, leaders’ commitment to change, and principal support); and contextual factors (i.e., an amenable football environment and the perceived political pressure to change). Three manifestations of change-supportive behaviors were identified: a) showing understanding of the change but pessimistic about the outcome; b) supporting the change and being willing to take risks; and c) supporting the change and actively seeking alternative solutions.

© 2018 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. In this article, the authors examine interorganisational conflict between provincial and national sport organisations in China. The authors theoretically ground the research in work related to interorganisational relationships and interorganisational conflict. The three case studies are artistic gymnastics, swimming, and cycling, and the authors conducted interviews with 11 staff from the relevant national-level sport organisations. Secondary data was sourced from official publications, websites, and influential domestic media. The key finding is that, whilst famed for its top-down bureaucratic system, there is considerable interorganisational conflict within the Chinese sport system. The extent and characteristics of the national-provincial conflict vary between sports. But there is also some consistency regarding the causes of the conflict and the measures adopted to mitigate the tension. Interorganisational conflict provides a useful heuristic for articulating and understanding the interorganisational relationships within the Chinese elite sport system and hence advances elite sport management research.

This article examines competitive balance at the Summer Olympic Games between 1992 and 2016 by measuring the distribution of gold medals, medals and medal points amongst nations, for overall and male and female competitions. The key findings are overall; there has been no improvement in competitive balance since the 1992 Olympics. There is some evidence that competitive balance has improved in male competitions, as shown by decreased HHIN, CV and CR4 values. The analysis of female competitions suggests that competitive balance has remained largely unchanged. However, the CV Gold indicator provides evidence of a significant decline in competitive balance. The findings facilitate a more evidence-based evaluation of existing policy measures and strategies, and their refinement where appropriate. Policy suggestions are proffered for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and various International Federations (IFs), and non-major nations to promote a more balanced development and competition particularly for women.

Research question: Much research has been carried out to analyse factors contributing to China's notable success at the Olympic Games over the past decade. However, research which examines China's deliberate Olympic medal strategy remains relatively uncharted territory. Thus this paper seeks to address this gap and examines how China has become one of the most successful superpowers at the Summer Olympic Games within the last two decades by virtue of the application of the competitive advantage framework.\ud \ud Research methods: Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders of elite sport in China. These data were supplemented by a range of official publications of sports governing bodies in China, their websites and related information from the websites of influential media.\ud \ud Results and findings: It is evidenced that China's current Olympic configuration and (gold) medal distribution among sports/disciplines are largely underpinned by Tian Maijiu's research on cluster-based sports training and the ‘Five-Word principle’ (i.e. Small, Fast, Women, Water and Agile). In addition, there is clear evidence of China's continuous expansion of its market and the ambition to greater success in gold-medal abundant and collective ball sports/disciplines.\ud \ud Implications: This article concludes by critically examining the key characteristics and outcomes of China's approach to clustering and prioritisation, attempting to provide some insights into the establishment or refinement of Olympic (gold) medal strategy for other nations, where China may provide some useful lessons. The compatibility of the competitive advantage framework with the analysis of China's Olympic success is also discussed.

Despite a plethora of studies focussing on sports mega event volunteering, little is known about volunteers who live outside of the host city. This exploratory research makes a novel contribution by focusing on a group of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games volunteers from a non-host region. Within this context, the study explores volunteers’ motives, the utility of using financial subsidies to support volunteering participation, and their attitudes towards post-event volunteering. Semi-structured interviews with twelve volunteers were conducted, accompanied by interviews with key local stakeholders. The findings suggest that Olympic-related factors and altruistic feelings were central motivations to volunteering. Some previous volunteering experiences increased confidence levels to volunteer at the Olympics. The financial scheme was perceived as an impetus further enhancing Leicestershire residents’ confidence to volunteer. Program participants also indicated positive attitudes towards future volunteering intentions.

This article reviews the development of sport policy in Hong Kong. The focus is on the sport development in Hong Kong after it returned to China’s sovereignty in 1997, including its largely independent international status as a legitimate non-sovereignty sporting participant which combines both the legacy of British colonisation and increasing interaction with Mainland China. In this article, Hong Kong’s, to some extent, unique political system in particular its relationship with Mainland China under the Basic Law, government involvement in sport and its sports organisational structure and funding are introduced. In addition, its policy priorities and the balance between elite sport, the hosting of sporting events and mass sport, elite sport achievements and emerging issues, most notably civil society’s ‘division’, regarding the relationship with Mainland China and the function of sport in Hong Kong’s identity shaping, social integration and its relationship with Beijing are discussed.