The good, the bad and the peace
If we are to view the modern-day Olympics through the lens of history — an event borne in Olympia and dominated by a god known to blast mortals and deities alike with lightning bolts when disgruntled — it should come as no surprise they can arrive with a dose of drama.
For Sidney Levy, CEO of the 2016 Rio Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and chairman of the board of directors of VALID s.a., mitigating the drama has been a true study in resolve.
“It’s been a tough ride,” says Levy, who joined YPO in 1996. “There is a curve to the process; when you win the bid to host the Games you have a very high approval rate, but as time goes by, the rate goes down, down, down for seven years.”
Levy’s hand shoots up, “Then it goes back up the day of the opening ceremonies! That’s the history of the Olympics in every country.”
The business of play
The obstacles to a smooth execution had been mounting incrementally as the opening ceremony date drew closer; from the removal of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, to the dangers of the Zika virus, to doping allegations, to threats of protests … there seems to be no end to the challenges incurred.
As a successful business leader and engineer, Levy was prepared to deal with the industry end of things, but he was not quite as prepared for the political negotiations and media arbitrations that came along with it.
“This has been very different from the corporate experience,” says Levy. “Selling sponsorships, contracting companies and hiring people is all very familiar – dealing with politicians and government and exposure to the world through media … this has been very challenging.”
“Rio 2016 has a difficult job,” says Cameron Myler, a luge athlete who has competed in four Olympic Games. “Every city and country that has hosted the Games has faced challenges of one sort or another. Until a host city is actually engaged in the process of planning the largest sports event in the world, it’s almost impossible to have a sense of what specific obstacles will arise.”
In addition to being an accomplished athlete (luge is the fastest of the sliding sports, with women reaching speeds around 80 miles per hour), Myler is a lawyer and a member of the full-time faculty at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Sports Management, Media and Business where she teaches sports law and governance.
Myler is well-versed in the intricacies of balancing the global glamour of the job against its realistic enormity: She served on the U.S. Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Board of Directors, was part of the USOC’s task force that created a new governance structure for the organization, and was a member of one of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) working groups that helped shape the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, Olympic Agenda 2020.
“The IOC has an interest in the Olympic Games being held in different countries around the world, which means that many cities that ultimately host the Olympics will be doing so for the first time,” says Myler. “The IOC has added an “open invitation phase” to the bidding process, which allows countries to engage in dialogue with the IOC in order to better understand what’s actually required — prior to formally entering the bidding process.”
Dispelling the rumors
For a glimpse at some of the less sensationalized challenges involved in hosting the event, Sidney points to the task of creating housing for 20,000 athletes (10,500 for the Olympic Games and 4,350 expected for Paralympics], their trainers and 25,000 journalists; ensuring meals are available 24 hours a day that cater to the tastes of every one of the 200-plus countries represented (some of the cooking has already begun); and isolating the “Rio agenda” from the “public agenda.”
“Being CEO of the Olympics has two jobs,” explains Levy. “One is delivering the Games, two is using the Games as an excuse to do something for the city. We have created new subways and highways, which for the first time will integrate our transportation system. This was not done for the games, but because it is important for the people.”
Another accomplishment Levy is proud of is turning unusable spaces into venues and rounding these out with temporary buildings and small-scale construction – all told, costing less than the 2012 London Games’ Olympic Park.
Still there are Rio’s detractors, citing broken promises to relocate upended favelas (a slum or shantytown located within, or on the outskirts of the country’s large cities, especially Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) and a lack of clean water, not the least of which, the polluted Guanabara Bay where sailing events will occur.
“Rio is not necessarily going to deliver on everything it said it would, but it’s unfair to single them out in this respect,” says Myler. “Things always get left out in the end because of time or financial constraints.”
Race for peace
Perhaps an inarguable value of the Olympics is the truce called between all nations that extends beyond the period of the Games to allow athletes and attendees to travel safely to and from the event. The tradition, called “ekecheria,” dates back to 9th century BC when wars were suspended, armies were prohibited from threatening the Games, and legal disputes and the carrying out of death penalties were forbidden.
The Olympic truce is further symbolized by the dove of peace flying across the Olympic flame — a symbol representing the IOC’s desire to build a better world through sport and the Olympic ideal.
“If we can use the Games to think a little more strategically and long term about how we can implement peaceful or diplomatic solutions to our conflicts, well that is sport at its best,” says Myler.
To all my friends
While Levy is looking forward to returning to his “day job,” he has a few more months ahead of him until the drama concludes. Perhaps it will all seem worth it when he is finally sitting together with his peers, watching the Games.
“My forum has been living this entire experience with me,” says Levy with emphatic appreciation. “We’ve been in the same group together, every one of us, the same exact people for 21 years. I made every one of them buy a ticket!
“The whole appeal of being CEO of the Olympics is the uniqueness of the opportunity. This is a once in a lifetime experience — nobody’s going to offer me this job twice. The whole thing, from the job to the significance of it being the first time the Games are in South America, it is all very symbolic.”