One of Jamie Kim’s earliest memories was watching the 1988 Seoul Games on TV at home. “I was fascinated by the Opening Ceremony—the parade of athletes, the mass demonstration of taekwondo, the lighting of the Olympic flame,” recalls the Syracuse University professor. “I remember my parents saying how proud they were to be Korean.”
The episode proved prophetic, as Kim went on to work for the Korean Olympic Committee and then join Syracuse’s sport management faculty. Today, she is a leading authority on sport event legacy, which refers to the short- and long-term effects of hosting major events like the 2024 Paris Games.
“I’m primarily interested in the social, cultural and economic benefits,” says Kim, who is conducting research this summer at South Korea’s Olympic Hospitality House in Paris. “This year’s Games are special because they’re the first-ever Olympics with gender parity. It’s a monumental achievement for female Olympians and the Olympic movement in general.”
While in Paris, Kim will present a paper on the Youth Olympic Games (YOG)—an elite sporting event for athletes ages 15-18—at the 11th International Sport Business Symposium. The YOG, which made its debut in 2010, was created by the International Olympic Committee to inspire young people to participate in sports. The YOG was also a “response to global concerns” about childhood obesity and the decline in youth sports participation, she explains.
“Like the Olympics, the YOG creates legacies that are tangible and intangible, planned and unplanned,” says Kim, who resides in Falk College. “We’re just beginning to understand the impact that these events have on one another and their respective host countries.”
