Background: Our study investigated the effect of elite sport on physical activity (PA) practice in the general population.
Methods: Structured Boolean searches were conducted across 5 electronic databases (PubMed, JSTOR, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and PsycInfo) from January 2000 to August 2021. Peer-reviewed studies in English were included if the effects of hosting elite sport events, elite sport success, and elite sport role modeling on PA/sport practice in the general population were measured.
Results: We identified 12,563 articles and included 36 articles. Most studies investigated the effect of hosting elite sport events (n = 27), followed by elite sport success (n = 16) and elite sport role modeling (n = 3). Most studies did not observe a positive effect of hosting elite sport events, elite sport success, or elite sport role modeling on PA/sport practice in the general population. No evidence of a lagged effect of elite sport was observed. No evidence of elite sport effects was observed according to age range and geographical scale.
Conclusion: There is no evidence supporting the effect of elite sport in increasing PA or sport participation in the general population. Decision makers and policymakers should be aware of this and invest in strategies such as those recommended by the World Health Organization.
Keywords: decision and policymakers; demonstration effect; festival effect; role modeling effect; trickle-down effect.