When times are tough in the world of politics the rule of thumb is to create a diversion. Put a new topic in the spotlight to take people’s minds off the really contentious issue.
If ever an organisation was a master of the art of deflection it would be the International Olympic Committee.
With the Tokyo Olympics looking like they will go ahead, but unlike any other Olympic Games before and hopefully in the future, it was time for some positive news. So they decide to change the way things have been done, which was to announce an Olympic City as host seven years in advance. By announcing a host city eleven years ahead of the Games, or giving a city a “preferred bid status,” has meant suddenly after 18 months of negative publicity there is some positive news to write about the Olympic Games.
Brisbane has been given that “preferred bid status” to host the 2032 Olympic Games. It is the only city that has been granted that status. Which means it is a shoe-in to end up as host city.
What has many baffled is that Brisbane, let alone any city would put their hand up to host the Olympic Games at this point in time. Tokyo according to some financial experts could see their national economy in ruins if the Games do not go ahead in 2021 following the postponement in 2020. The losses already with the postponement have been said to be USD6Billion. If the Games do go ahead in four months time and are contested behind closed doors Katsuhiro Miyamoto, an honorary professor at Kansai University is predicting a loss of in excess of USD22Billion. If cancelled completely that rises in some predictions to USD$60billion.
These are astonishing figures at a time when many worldwide have lost their jobs and businesses have had to close their doors.
One thing that has become abundantly clear is that the people of Tokyo no longer what to host the Games. They already know the impact that the hosting rights and cancellation has had and they want to stop the haemorrhaging now before it kills the city.
Only three editions of the Summer Olympics have ever been cancelled since the birth of the modern Olympic movement in 1896. The 1916 edition was cancelled due to World War I and both the 1940 and 1944 editions were cancelled due to World War II.The 1916 Games were due to be held in Berlin, 1940 in Tokyo and 1944 in London. The 1940 and 1944 Winter Olympic Games were cancelled too due to World War II.
The postponement of the Olympic Games has seen many openly question whether the event is still relevant with so many sports having their own World Championships. (Remaining Relevant) The event being squeezed into a two week window has also been questioned. The big questions are whether the Olympic movement has kept apace with the modern times and public opinion, and can they survive?
The postponement of the Games from last year to this will have a massive impact on whether some Olympic Sports can survive the next three years before Paris plays host. The IOC will not have the funds to support those international federations following Tokyo due to huge reductions in their own incoming revenue. Some of those International Federations went cup in hand to the IOC in 2020 asking for money in advance and loans to keep their sport afloat; They needed that money then as they had banked on it arriving post Tokyo in 2020.
The word is that some of these International Federations may be in for a very rude shock at the end of 2021 when the IOC knocks on their door and asks them for a repayment plan on those loans, and issues a timeframe in which these monies can be repaid.
Just last month it was written that Insurers of the Olympic Games are facing a $2-3 billion loss if the Tokyo Olympics are canceled in 2021. According to Insurance brokers this would be the largest ever claim in the global event cancellation market.
Which leads us into the Brisbane bid, why would you put your city in such a position during these uncertain times? Currently sporting events cannot buy cancellation insurance, who knows how long that will be the case, but if they have to pay out on the cancellation of Tokyo later this year, how many companies are going to offer such insurance in the future? Which again will expose Brisbane and the Queensland Government to a great deal of risk.
If the news surrounding Tokyo was negative, the IOC will be well aware that most eyes are on that event, yet Paris 2024 is only three years away.
Apart from the news that Breakdancing will be a part of the Olympic festival in Paris and that weightlifting may well be dropped, and that “gender equality and youth will be at the heart” of the Games what else do we know about how preparations are faring for these Games?
We do know that contingency plans are being made should there be a similar pandemic in three years time. At the beginning of February Tony Estanguet, the head of the organising committee was the consumate politician when he was quoted as saying “What’s interesting is to see how we can react to unpredictable events. As early as last year, we had to reorganise and work on a new concept, in terms of competition sites, for instance, to see how we could adapt to a new context. In the end, in a few months we managed to propose a project that was still ambitious and generated some savings. That’s the mindset we’re in. There’s no official plan B, but we’re identifying the risks and the solutions. And we will be working on this until the end because risks constantly evolve.” No Plan B? If that doesn’t set alarm bells ringing what will?
How many people are instilled with confidence by those words?
The word is that there will be no cancellation or postponement insurance available for Paris, as understandably the insurance companies are extremely wary at the moment. They bank on the unlikelihood of an event, and with the current Pandemic drawing out and new strains of the virus emerging, the chances of a postponement are far greater than they were two years ago.
Equally troubling is the rumour that sponsors are also very reticent when it comes to supporting Paris in 2024. Many would have planned their campaigns built around Tokyo 2020 for over a year. There would have been promotions and marketing tied into the Games at least a year out from the commencement of the Olympic Games, and those campaigns came to nought. Money and strategies were blown in a few weeks when the Games were postponed. Is it therefore any wonder that the Multinational companies are being cautious before committing hundreds of millions of dollars to an event that no one at this point in time can be one hundred per cent sure will actually take place?
Of course if Tokyo does not happen the IOC will desperately need Paris to go ahead. The organisation could not sustain itself if it missed two Summer Olympic cycles. Those who are already questioning the future of the Olympic Games will be grabbing their shovels and closing their prayer books.
This is why the whole Brisbane story is such a masterstroke by the IOC’s public relations team. They already have the 2028 Olympic Games scheduled for Los Angeles. If that were the only event in the pipeline, it would be far easier to close the door on the quadrennial event. Especially as in Los Angeles most of the venues are already in existence, so it would not be a case of a new billion-dollar stadium having been built. If you add Brisbane to the pipeline where they will have to create new stadia, then suddenly you have a reason to continue to exist.
Is this is the best interests of the various sports and the Olympic movement, or is it in the best interests of certain individuals?
Brisbane is the ideal location on other fronts too. Australia is a nation that has dealt with the current Pandemic exceptionally well. It is a country where there is in the main political and racial harmony. The Sydney Olympic Games still live long in the memory of those who witnessed them, and so there would be little objection to head ‘down under’ again.
It is also worth noting at this time that the bidding process since an Australian city last hosted the Olympic Games has changed drastically. In the early 1990’s when Sydney was bidding for the 2000 Olympic Games “incentives” were still very much the norm. The system has now been changed to try and avoid countries voting en bloc. The Future Host Commission which is made up of five IOC members who cannot be members of the executive board, now enters into conversations with those interested cities. It reviews the criteria and then makes its recommendations to the executive board. This means that by the time the IOC Members get to vote they are left with little choice but to rubber-stamp their recommendation.
This system is said to have been the brainchild of the IOC vice-president John Coates.
The IOC’s Vice President, 70-year old John Coates is very much a key player in this puzzle. He also happens to be the president of the Australian Olympic Committee and chairman of the Australian Olympic Foundation. Other countries may claim he has a conflict of interest when it comes to Australia bidding, but his new system removes him from any such accusations.If any one did question any involvement he may have had, if he had any involvement he would most likely have couched it as doing what is best for the IOC.
Coates is a grandmaster when it comes to politics. He has been a member of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) since 1981, having been Vice-President (1985–1990) then President since 1990. He has been a member International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2001 and was an elected member of the Executive Board from 2009 to 2013. He served as a vice president from 2013 to 2017 and was given that position again in 2020. He was also the Senior Vice-President of the Organising Committee of the Sydney Olympic Games (SOCOG) from 1993 to 2000 and Chairman of SOCOG Sports Commission (1996–2000).When it comes to the Olympic Games and the way things work, few can match him.
Coates has also been a chef de mission for Australia, but his biggest win for sport would be in the lead up to the Sydney Olympic Games. Coates was constantly in the press arguing with Michael Knight, the Minister for the Olympics in his role as President of the AOC. Coates was a lawyer by trade and had been involved in sports administration through rowing. It was rowing that took him to his first Olympic Games in 1976 in Montreal, as the Australian Olympic Team Rowing Section Manager. He was now the architect of the bid strategy. He wanted a legacy for the AOC out pf the 2000 Olympic Games, he wanted a share of the profits. He would it has been said analyse every spending decision made by the local organising committee. On a Sunday evening in March 1996 a meeting was held between Knight and Coates along with mediator former Minister for Sport Graham Richardson at the Chinese restaurant the House of Guang Zhou in Sydney. The aim was to stop the public spat and come to an agreement with the AOC so that the organising committee could move forward as a united team.
A deal was brokered. Coates won the AOC $75Million from the Government, which was to be used to assist the Athletes of the future. In return he relinquished a share of the profits and a say on the budgets.
Coates was not finished though. He followed up with Knight the next day saying that the $75 million was based on the rate when the bid was put together. The Minister agreed and the money that came the AOC’s way was closer to $100million with inflation. He also managed to obtain a commitment from the Government to set up a Sports Commission. Of course the Sports Commission would then delegate to the AOC over sports related issues. So Coates had kept control and also obtained much needed money for the AOC. His legal nous reaped many other rewards over the lead up to and after the Sydney Olympic Games.
His goal with the funding was to make the AOC totally independent of Government interference. He like many others did not want any Government stepping in as they had when Malcolm Fraser urged athletes to boycott Moscow in 1980.
Coates will be 81 years old when the Brisbane Olympic Games come around. This may well be his parting gift to the Australian Olympic Committee. No doubt he will have already had a hand in the initial contracts for the hosting of the games, and no doubt he will once again have secured a healthy nest egg for the AOC. If that is truly the case it is one way to ensure he leaves a lasting legacy in Australian Olympic history. He may not have performed on the track, but he has had more than his fair share of victories off of it.
Coates has dedicated 40 years of his life to the Australian Olympic Committee, he has also been a part of the IOC for 20 years. The Olympic Games have been good to him, as they have to many others. Is it therefore any wonder that they are desperate to keep the movement alive and as everyone has said lately, relevant.
By giving Brisbane “preferred bid status” as the host city for 2032 Coates is helping out both of the organisations that he has been a part of for so long. He gives the IOC a reason to stay alive and the AOC will receive a huge financial shot in the arm, at a time when Government funding is being reduced. It is a win/win situation for the two organisations so close to his heart.
There is no doubt that this announcement is a Public Relations masterstroke. It has created some excitement, made people believe that the Olympic Games has a future and in fact will most likely prolong its future. It has also taken the attention off of Tokyo, but more importantly off of the troubles facing Paris.
Many have referred to George Orwell’s books with the events worldwide in the past year, in particular “Animal Farm” and “1984.” Due to these events Orwell has been hailed as being prophet-like. “Animal Farm” is about the animals in a farm turning on the farmer, hoping to thereby create an environment where there is equality, freedom and everyone is happy; does that sound familiar? The next book he had published was “1984.” This book also clearly rings true today as it focuses on the consequences of mass surveillance, the repression of people through regimentation and their behaviours within society. His very first book before these two classics was entitled “Down and Out in Paris and London.” While the London Olympic Games were a huge success one could not help feeling that there was a very good chance that the Paris Olympic Games could well have been down, and then it would be over and out for the IOC.
The announcement last week may well have ensured that this is not the case for the Olympics. Brisbane is the key to the continuation of the Olympic Games, and the key to Australian Olympic athletes receiving funding.
