The Olympic Games’ impact on the development of teachers: the case of Rio 2016 Official Olympic Education Programme

The Rio 2016 Official Olympic Education Programme (ROEP), called Transforma, began in 2013 and was one of the actions to take the Olympic Games into schools and promote new education-based opportunities. The current study examines its effects by exploring the Olympic Games’ impact on the development of skills, knowledge, and experiences of teachers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire (n = 702) with physical education teachers who attended the Transforma Programme. The results of a structural equation model indicate that the educational impact measured through experiences, knowledge, and skills-development contributed positively to the human development of teachers as well as to their knowledge about teaching Olympism. These findings provide event managers with useful insights on the role of teachers in their Olympic programmes, as well as ways to engage them in a wide range of initiatives both inside and outside the school context.