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Inspire Someone Today
Inspire Someone Today
E124 | The Journey of an Olympian P2| Sarah Lewis
Ever wondered how hosting the Olympics can transform a city? Join us as we sit down with Sarah Lewis, who played a pivotal role in the London 2012 Olympic Games bid. Sarah's wealth of experience with international sporting events brings to light the profound impacts on cities like Barcelona, Sydney, and London. From urban regeneration to economic boosts and community building, her personal anecdotes and insights illuminate the true power of sports. Listen in as Sarah shares captivating stories from Romania, Lebanon, and Turkey, demonstrating how sports can breathe new life into regions and foster tourism.
In our deep dive into the potential of India hosting the 2036 Olympics, Sarah helps us uncover both the immense benefits and the challenges of such an ambitious endeavor. By reflecting on the successes and lessons from past Olympic cities, we discuss what it takes to harness the global unity and economic growth that come with hosting the Games. Plus, don't miss Sarah's favorite skiing destinations and amusing encounters with sporting legends from the London 2012 bid process. This episode is a celebration of sports as a unifying, revitalizing force for communities worldwide.
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I was at a conference during the Ski World Championships in 2015 with the CEO of Ericsson. He said that the world will never move so Well memorable, I have to say. The very, very special opportunity I had was to be part of the bid team for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The election took place in Singapore and the whole delegation was 100 people. It included the British Prime Minister, tony Blair at the time, and British sporting icons who would be able to interact with IOC members. I was able to interact with IOC members coming from winter sports was able to interact with IOC members coming from winter sports.
Speaker 1:Three countries, at least from the summer games perspective, that you can say have had huge benefits as a result of the games. Barcelona in 1992, as I mentioned, they transformed the city's waterfront and the tourism boom has been long-lasting and they've totally revitalized the urban area as well. The Sydney 2000 Games as well. They left behind world-class sporting facilities and significant international recognition, which has boosted their tourism and the local economy. And I can speak very, very personally about the London 2012 Games and the regeneration of a quarter of London. That area of London was on the World Health Organization list of unsafe places. It's created new housing, parks, sporting facilities, the transportation, the businesses that are there, the number of organizations, companies, businesses that have actually moved out of central London out to the Olympic Park. It's well, you would never have dreamed of that.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Inspire Someone Today podcast, a show where we dive into the stories and insights that has the power to create ripples of inspiration in your life. I'm your host, srikant, and I'm thrilled to be with you on this journey of inspiration. If the last part was about Sarah's Olympics journey, stay tuned and listen in the impact Billie Jean King had on Sarah, her call-out message for all of us be of help, importance of community building and her experience of having dinner with two of Europe's Athlete of the Century nominees. All of this and more as we continue our conversation with Sarah Lewis. You did touch upon a very interesting element there about community building through sports Any anecdotes or any lessons that you have seen in close quarters, how, through your role as the sports leader to the Olympic Committee, how community building has helped communities to thrive or regions to thrive or nations to thrive.
Speaker 1:Absolutely very much. So. You know, in the mountainous regions of many countries it's their sporting activities which actually enables the community to thrive and survive, because the tourism plays such an important role. And there I have to say that a sport like skiing and snowboarding are very special because they're not only competitive sports but they're recreational activities and they have a tourism element attached to them. So it means that there are some sports where it's just the competitive sport. When you take the winter games like bobsleigh, for example, you don't go on holiday to do bobsleigh. Families and friends and people they will go on a winter sports holiday and they will go skiing or they go snowboarding and they'll have fun in the snow. So it does play a very important role for communities and that really is the main reason for an area to organize international competitions in order to gain media exposure and to gain some interest around it, people talking about it, to drive tourism there. So this is kind of a key reason for why the sports play such an important role, why the sports play such an important role.
Speaker 1:And yes, I mean I can recall going to competitions in Romania where really the community there hadn't had a ski resort and they really had survived on farming or having to travel to the cities in order to work there in different industries. But the ski resort that was built up there actually through private investment. This provided employment and provided all sorts of tourism possibilities. That meant that the community there could evolve and develop and the competitions then gave them a lot of exposure and to be able to go and support that and to assist them was really a great privilege. I can remember similar circumstances in Lebanon. That was also tremendous in Turkey. Turkey is very interesting. You know, 60% of the country is over 2,000 meters and there's a lot of snow there in the winter times. So in a similar way it's a minor sport in Turkey, but by organizing international competitions they really were able to drive a lot of tourism and a lot of interest there in a densely populated country. But I'm looking forward to coming to India and doing the same. I hope.
Speaker 2:Can't wait for that. Can't wait for the country to post some of this stuff. Sarah, you've been doing just fantastic. We slip into a segment of this conversation, what I call it as the power of three rounds. If you could ski anywhere in the world, what three places would you choose?
Speaker 1:Well, I've already had the opportunity to ski in countless fantastic places in Europe, north America, asia, australasia, south America, and singly one out is, I kind of feel is a bit unfair, but I haven't skied in India yet, so that's my answer.
Speaker 2:India is waiting. Which are the three memorable or humorous moments you have experienced during your travels? During the sport events?
Speaker 1:Well memorable, I have to say. The very, very special opportunity I had was to be part of the bid team for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The election took place in Singapore and the whole delegation was 100 people and it included the British Prime Minister, tony Blair at the time, and British sporting icons who would be able to interact with IOC members. And I was able to interact with IOC members coming from winter sports because there weren't any other British officials or British people who really knew those IOC members whose vote that we needed in order to win the Games. But there were sporting icons like David Beckham, bobby Charlton, famous footballers, steve Raygrave, who won five gold medals in rowing, five Olympic Games, denise Lewis I mean, it was the who's who British sport. And that was the most unbelievable experience because London was awarded those games and the impact that that has had on London, on the community, has been nothing short of a miracle. It really has fantastic, good job.
Speaker 2:There, sir, are three individuals, athletes, pastor, president, if you were to like to, if you were to have dinner with food, jb and why?
Speaker 1:okay, well, I've already had dinner with two and they were skiers and you have to imagine this. They were both voted their own country's athlete of the century in the 1900s. Yeah, I mean, that was sort of wow for France and for Austria. And Tony Siler, from Austria, won three gold medals at the Olympics in 1956. And Jean-Claude Kibbe. He repeated this achievement at his home Olympics in France in 1968, and he won the first World Cup title. Now, these two guys together, we laughed all evening with their stories and their adventures and, yeah, it's a dinner that never happened again.
Speaker 1:Tony Siler passed away the following year, but that is something that if you had have asked me back then, that's something that I would dream of. But I've got another one and I put a great deal of thoughts into this. And the athlete that I would most like to have dinner with for the future is Billie Jean King, a tennis player. She was, in addition to being the best tennis player of her generation, she was world number one. She campaigned tirelessly for women's rights, for women to have equal prize money, and then she set up the Women's Tennis Association and she has continued to work for women to have equal rights across all sports, not just tennis both as athletes and in decision-making capacities. So people like me have got a lot to thank Billie Jean King for.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice selection there, sarah, if you were to give three pieces of advice to your older self the Sarah 10 years from now.
Speaker 1:What would be those advice? Be like to be courageous, to be prepared to yeah, go outside of your comfort zone, to be humble and to be reflective in terms of what you say and who you say it to.
Speaker 2:I think you check all of those things, sarah. You have been courageous to kind of pick on your sport and nobody else thought of doing it at that point of time. You're very, very humble. With all the conversations that I've had, I think you're humility personified and you have definitely got out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you have to take care in terms of who you trust as well. That, I think, is very important, and I definitely made some errors in that regard and paid the price for it. I would be more careful in the future if I could have said that to my younger self. Just be careful who you trust and who you have faith in, and because they may not be considering your best interests all the time, or do.
Speaker 2:Sarah. So three book club podcast recommendations.
Speaker 1:I listened to so many different ones it's a bit hard to single out three, but we'll go for the unofficial partner podcast, we'll go for the high performance podcast and the rest is politics.
Speaker 2:Okay, good going. So here we are. The last of the power of three round question for you, sarah, is three micro experiments that you would recommend for our listeners to consider.
Speaker 1:Great question Yoga. Get up in the morning and do yoga. It's absolutely been a game changer for me. It really is such a great habit to do, so you know, it doesn't have to be complicated, it doesn't have to be long. I do a session called Happiness Boost. It's on a free app and you get a whole bunch of different exercises every day. You can set it to your level. It takes between 10 and 19 minutes depending on what program pops up that day, but that's what I would absolutely recommend. I think I also have to keep going on the exercise front, but just to do some moving every day in addition to your yoga. Just try to move, to walk, to dance, to swim, to cycle, to run, to do whatever. You can have fun with team sports if you have the chance to go with other people, but I'll stick to those. And then just consider what you do when it comes to eating as well and try something new. Try something new once a week and say, oh, that looks interesting. And even if it doesn't, try, it anyway.
Speaker 2:Those are nice, cool set of ideas. Yoga, keep moving, try something new while you kind of eat something different. Focus on what you eat. Thanks for that, sarah. Great, so we'll check along. Uh, you have been associated with the international olympics committee for such a long time. I have been a known thought leader, sports leader, and there's lot of buzz around my country, india, wanting to host 2036 Olympics. My question to you on that, sarah, is it's a big dream, it's a humongous project, both in terms of time scale and cost. Doing something like this, how has this benefited the countries post the event and what does it do for the countries, for the economies, when they launch a big event like the Olympics?
Speaker 1:That is a very complex question and a very complex answer. But the most important thing, the key question to ask at the outset is why? Why do you want to organize the Olympics and the Paralympic Games? Not how, but how. That's the easy part, because there's a lot of expertise there in terms of how to actually organize it, but why? And the legacy from the Games has got to actually be built into the whole project, the whole candidacy, from the outset. So to know what's going to happen as a result of those games, to have those objectives is crucial, and they can be improving the sports infrastructure or multi-use infrastructure, developing elite sport or, very, very importantly, getting children to become active and for sport and games to become part of their lives.
Speaker 1:But there are some very tangible benefits from holding the games the economic growth and development, increasing tourism. Barcelona, for example, it was a little-known provincial city before the 1992 games. Now it's one of the most attractive tourist destinations anywhere in the world. And of course that results also in job creation, not only during the construction of any Olympic infrastructure and the hosting of the Games, but the post-Games tourism infrastructure improvements. That doesn't mean just the sporting venues, it means transportation networks, the way that Beijing, for example, the 2008 Games they built a subway system for those games. London, the whole area of London, was transportation transformed, transformed the city and the urban renewal, of course. Then the sporting and the multi-purpose facilities.
Speaker 1:Global recognition of prestige Of course that's an element, but it shouldn't be the only element and the cultural and social impact is very important. The social impact began to showcase the country's culture to a global audience, I mean, and the sense of global unity that you can have in the country. You already know that in India through hosting major cricket World Cups and important events. But the Olympics goes to a whole new level because I mean there's people like me who like to watch cricket from other parts of the world, but generally it's a much smaller audience internationally than the entire Olympics. The environmental benefits you know, with sustainable practices, the long-term economic benefits are significant because the business opportunities through the infrastructure that's been built, the global exposure that can definitely attract and it does attract new business and investors and you can build up event hosting experience to host other major events and to train up your people to be able for them to go to other countries and organize events too, and I think three countries at least from the summer games perspective, that you can say have had huge benefits as a result of the games barcelona 1992, as I.
Speaker 1:As I mentioned, they transformed the city's waterfront and the tourism boom has been long-lasting and they've totally revitalized the urban area as well. The Sydney 2000 Games as well. They left behind world-class sporting facilities and significant international recognition, which has boosted their tourism and the local economy. And I can speak very, very personally about the London 2012 Games and the regeneration of a quarter of London. That area of London was on the World Health Organization list of unsafe places. It's created new housing, parks, sporting facilities, the transportation, the businesses are there. The number of of organizations, companies, businesses have actually moved out of central london out to the olympic park. It's well, you would never have dreamed of that and it it would have happened, but over 50 years, not over eight years.
Speaker 2:Sounds like there's a lot of tangible and intangible benefits to organize, host an event of this size and scale. And, along the way, what does it talk about leadership and the capabilities of that country to organize something as big as this? What, what have you seen?
Speaker 1:Well, it needs extraordinary collaboration between different institutions. It's not just the sport event, it's much, much more than that. You need absolutely the political machinery, both nationally and regionally and locally. Everybody has got to be signed up to it, from all parts of the political divide. And you know, for instance, during London, during the candidacy phase and then the preparation afterwards, there were two political parties, different ones, there were three prime ministers, there were three mayors of London. It was so much change, but everybody was on board for the Games and that absolutely has to happen.
Speaker 1:You need a strategic vision for the Games. The leaders got to have a lot of thick skin for the games. You know, the leaders got to have a lot of thick skin and very much. Everybody has to have that clear vision for the games, what they're going to achieve, not just in terms of athletic performances, but the broader economic and cultural impact. Very important. And the leader of the London 2012 Games, lord Sebastian Combe he said one thing that I think resonates with everybody If you get it right for the athletes, and then everything will work. And the main thing is to be very focused that it will work for the athletes, because all of the elements that are being created for the games actually also then have that long-term benefit. The housing has got to be good, the transportation has got to work, the facilities have got to be at the right levels, and all of these things are all elements that are going to work for the actual games themselves.
Speaker 1:But when it actually comes to the staging and the organisation of the Games, you have exceptional support from the International Olympic Committee. It's their property and they really take care of their property and, with the experience that they have within the organisation, what they actually do is they will go through a kind of a pre-candidacy phase, a dialogue phase, really examine all of the aspects of the games together with the potential candidate, to see the scope of the whole thing, the actual infrastructure that exists, the area, the political situation, and to really guide and examine all of the different elements involved to see really whether it's feasible it's a very detailed feasibility for the games, and then to let's be hypothetical that you then reach that next phase, which is then to be able to have the dialogue with the IOC on a one-to-one basis to say, yes, you are our preferred candidate, and then to go through things on a very detailed basis and then, after the election, to then guide and work together with the elected organiser to organise the Games. So there's support across all of the different areas, but nevertheless, the games has to retain that local and national culture and the objectives, because afterwards, of course, the IOC have delivered what they want to do, which is to have successful games, but the future is then down to to the old country. So they nevertheless will of course, be very supportive of the legacy because it's very important to them. It's the showcase for future games. That's why it's very important that they can say oh, yes, wow, look at London 2012, look at Barcelona, look at the outcomes from those games.
Speaker 1:But there is a very long list of things when it comes actually to having the capabilities to organize it. You know the financials that should be very high up the list. The project management, absolutely alongside it, stakeholder management there are so many different stakeholders, a lot of the venues may actually be private ones. There are so many different stakeholders, a lot of the venues may actually be private ones, and then the stakeholders have got to be fully on board with that. That's the case, for example, with LA-28, with a lot of private venues.
Speaker 1:Operational excellence, of course, the logistics, the infrastructure, and, if there is a lack of experience in India, don't worry, there'll be plenty of people who will be very keen to come and support and work as part of the organization I'm putting my hand up straight away sailing and they are very capable of crisis management, because there will certainly be difficulties along the road. It's a long time and that's just normal, but they need to be managed. And then, when it comes to the whole cultural sensitivity, the inclusivity of the whole country and internationally as well, you know there will be countries coming from every country in the world will be eligible to participate and making them feel welcome, very, very important and well essential, very, very important and well essential. We've touched on sustainability from an environmental perspective, but also sustainable practices just around everything that the games involve and the legacy planning, so that there is an entire sustainable vision for the games, not something that's just plugged in as a side issue. It needs to be a fundamental part of the whole philosophy of the organization.
Speaker 2:Thanks for sharing that Very intriguing. It makes me to think that I may have to run a series of podcasts just to say how do you bid for the olympics to, all the way to how do you successfully run an olympics? So as I hear this out, sarah, one piece that has that that is coming to my mind is also the power of partnership, relationship or collaboration, not just from a sporting certainty standpoint, but as a general life skill. So, through your experience, if you were to kind of highlight three elements that works in favor of having great collaboration, great partnership, what would those three elements be?
Speaker 1:Well, the first one, without a shadow of doubt, is trust. You have absolutely got to trust your partners, your stakeholders, your colleagues, and that is absolutely imperative. And you have to build that trust by getting to know them, by really investing time into those relationships, and that also means listening, understanding their perspective and being prepared to take that on board absolutely fundamental and interacting, reaching out to them, showing confidence in them, showing that you respect their perspectives as well, and being honest and upfront to say look, we're coming from different sides of the argument here. What points do we agree on? What points don't we agree on? Where can we find some ways to make this actually work? So I would say those would be my three things.
Speaker 2:Great, sarah. This has been one heck of a conversation. Knowing the life of a Olympian to what you have been able to do as a sports leader. What does it take to organize big events? The role of technology. Like we always do before we wrap up, I ask my guests what's their inspire someone today message for all the listeners. This show is all about creating ripples of inspiration, and if you were to share your inspire someone today message, what would that be?
Speaker 1:reach out to somebody who you don't know and offer to help them. How can you help them? Can you be supportive to them and when you see that they are perhaps struggling, as somebody who you, you see outside, you see when they need help to carry a bag up the stairs, to give them a seat on the underground, but be prepared to help other people.
Speaker 2:It is not old-fashioned. You can be an Olympian, you can be an OBE, but you still live by those small, simple human values. Be of help, be of value to somebody out there. On that note, sarah, thank you so much for being on this show and sharing your life journey, your career journey, and sharing with us some wonderful insights of the Olympic movement and beyond. Thank you so much, really appreciate your time of the Olympic moment and beyond. Thank you so much, really appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Inspire Someone today. This is Srikanth, your host, signing off. Until next time, continue to carry the ripples of inspiration, stay inspired, keep spreading the light.
