Host City: What do you think are the main considerations for rightsholders deciding where to host events? 

Jason Siegel: While this could vary by rightsholder, for the most part, they are looking for a host city that will deliver a world-class experience for their constituents, athletes, officials, and partners and a city that will drive desired net revenue back to the rightsholder.

Using Orlando as an example, our tourism ecosystem seamlessly works together – hoteliers, restauranteurs, elected officials, transportation providers, and attraction operators all work closely to ensure a smooth and successful event for all stakeholders. This strong working relationship is reflected in the 74 million visitors who enjoyed Orlando in 2022 alone, a testament to our city’s ability to deliver.

When it comes to infrastructure, Orlando boasts an impressive 35+ sports venues across the region, ensuring flexibility and adaptability to your specific needs. With over 200,000 hotel rooms, timeshares, and vacation rentals, we can easily accommodate athletes, officials, and fans.

Ultimately, while rightsholders seek world-class experiences and revenue generation, they also value a collaborative and engaging environment. With its proven track record of hosting major events, experienced local organizing committee, and collaborative community spirit, Orlando stands out as the ideal choice to deliver on all fronts.

Host City: Why did Orlando want to host the US Olympic Trials for Marathon?

Jason Siegel: The opportunity to host an Olympic qualifying event fit perfectly in our strategic plan and aligns with our goal of bringing world-class sporting events to Orlando.

We also wanted to shine a spotlight on Downtown Orlando and boost the local economy. We are very proud of our incredible community here, and our economic impact so far has been tremendous. We also were confident in the return on investment the event would bring and the media value of hosting a nationally televised event.

We were thrilled that the event drew over 100,000 spectators. With the robust running community here in Orlando, we knew this event would be well-received not only by fans of the sport but by everyone.

Host City: What are Orlando’s wider event hosting ambitions?

Jason Siegel: From Premier League clashes like Aston Villa vs Fulham and international giants like Juventus and Real Madrid facing off in the Florida Cup to the electrifying spectacle of WrestleMania and the inspirational 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, Orlando has a proven track record of hosting major sporting events. We've also welcomed the pinnacle of wakeboarding and waterskiing with the IWWF World Championships in 2021 and 2023. These, alongside over 1,600 other events since 1993, demonstrate our commitment to driving economic impact, showcasing Orlando's vibrancy, and benefiting our residents and businesses.

With our elite venues and facilities, coupled with the entertainment powerhouses of Disney and Universal, Orlando offers an iconic backdrop for world-class events. We enjoy strong partnerships with local government and are passionate about collaborating with all stakeholders to bring even more exciting sporting experiences to our city, encompassing youth/amateur, Olympic, collegiate, international, esports, and everything in between.

Host City: How will you look to capitalise on the 2026 FIFA World Cup and LA28?

Jason Siegel: We have a longstanding relationship with FIFA and the USOPC, and both organizations know they can always count on Orlando to deliver exceptional results.

Senior leaders of the organising committees of the next three Olympic Games have confirmed to speak at Host City 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland on 20-21 November.

Taking place with the support of Global Presenting Partners and Hosts Glasgow Life and EventScotland, this year’s event brings major event owners, organisers and hosts from all over the world together at the Technology and Innovation Centre around the conference theme of Driving and Reacting to Change.

And this year, senior figures from the LA28, Milano Cortina 2026 and Paris 2024 Organising Committees of the Olympic and Paralympic Games are among the confirmed speakers.

Hilary Ash, Vice President, Games Delivery & Infrastructure, LA28 will give a Fireside Chat on what's next for the LA 28 Olympics. She will share a unique overview of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games vision and mission; sport parks concept and use of existing venues and Games Plan including sports programme and venue mapping.

Ash is instrumental to LA28’s technical operations and Games delivery planning, specifically for the sport and venue masterplan and budget considerations. She led the development of the bid books. She was a 2019 Recipient of the Sports Business Journal New Voices Under 30 Award. Previous roles included and producing ESPN X Games and the Rose Bowl Game.

Giulio Alessandrini, Head of Venues & Infrastructure, Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is speaking at Host City on the panel Changing Venue Requirements. He has a wide knowledge of the sport industry infrastructures, including venue design, procurement and commercial strategies, site management and events delivery.

Previously, Giulio was Senior Technical Services and Overlay Manager at FIFA, where he headed the planning, scoping and implementation of all overlay infrastructures across a number of FIFA tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 and several others. Before that he worked within several Organising Committees including Baku 2015 European Games, Gold Coast 2018 and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, and delivered overlay at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Carole Colin Kjaer, Digital, CRM and Data Director at Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing and digital in the sports and consumer goods sectors. She has spent more than 12 years at the Carlsberg Group before joining Paris 2024, where she was in charge of sports sponsorship including Euro 2016.

Other speakers at Host City 2023 include Petra Sörling, IOC Member and President, International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF); Vlad Marinescu, Director General, International Judo Federation and President, International Esports Federation; Jimena Saldaña, CEO / Secretary General, PanamSports Organization; Abi Ijasanmi, COO, CAF; John Langford, COO, AEG Europe; Jana Ebert, Conference Manager, European Society of Human Genetics; Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society; Susan Deighan, Chief Executive, Glasgow Life; Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events, VisitScotland and many more leading figures from the owners, organisers and hosts of the world’s greatest sports, business and cultural events.

Host City taking place at the Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow, Scotland on 20-21 November with the support of Global Presenting Partners and Hosts Glasgow Life and EventScotland.

For speaking and hosted buyer opportunities, contact ben.avison@hostcity.com. For sponsorship, exhibition and commercial enquiries contact adam.soroka@bric.com

[Source: OnePlan] The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games is a major event like no other, powered by innovation. For the organising committee and its stakeholders, this includes how the planning of the Games is being done, including operations, security, transport, workforce management and so much more.
OnePlan is the Official Supporter of GIS Mapping and Digital Twin Software for Paris 2024, and our award-winning software is being used to plan the Games. It includes a 3D digital twin view, Venue Twin, that any user at Paris 2024 and its stakeholders can access to provide life-like visualisations of how the venues will look – simply accessible via a web browser.
Our digital twin solution leverages some of the latest computing and processor technologies of Intel, worldwide partner of the Olympic Games. Read on and watch below how venues in central Paris are being transformed virtually by organisers of Paris 2024 to streamline its operational planning.

Eiffel Tower Arena
The Eiffel Tower Arena will be a magical setting for the Beach Volleyball and Blind Football at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. With a capacity of 12,860 spectators, this temporary stadium will provide unique sporting moments during the Games.
As with all the temporary venues for Paris 2024, this venue currently only exists in Venue Twin. It gives the organising committee and their stakeholders a hyper-realistic way to plan and visualise all aspects of the operational plan for this arena, including security, transport, crowd management, workforce planning, and more.
The 3D digital twins wins we’re creating with Paris 2024 are fully interoperable with the 2D map views in the same system. When a plan is changed, however big or small that change, it’s instantly shown in the 3D view. This gives organisers hands-on access to real-time plans for every venue so they can plan collaboratively with whoever needs access.

La Concorde
Place de la Concorde is being transformed for Paris 2024 into an open arena to host urban sports in their natural environment at the heart of the city. Temporary venues will host Skateboarding, Breaking, BMX Freestyle and 3×3 Basketball, with these spectacular sports taking place virtually non-stop for the duration of the Olympic Games.
In planning Concorde, organisers have to take into account a myriad of factors to ensure the events are safe and successful. This includes how the existing city infrastructure needs to change to accommodate these temporary venues, security scenario planning, traffic management, workforce positioning and responsibilities, fan experience, optimizing for peak sporting conditions and so much more.
This is all being visualized in our state-of-the-art Venue Twin software, which can be viewed by any stakeholder any time, from anywhere. It’s reducing the time and costs of planning the next Games, thanks to our powerful cloud-based solution that’s easy for anyone to use.

Invalides
The Esplanade des Invalides is one of Paris’ preferred leisure destinations where locals and tourists enjoy sport, music and walking. For the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it’s being transformed into a show-stopping venue for Archery, Para-Archery and other sports.
The Invalides Venue Twin that we’ve created with Paris 2024 shows how event organisers are planning with temporary infrastructure on existing city environments. The centimetre-accurate placement of crowd infrastructure includes how fans with additional access needs will be able to easily access the venue and have excellent views of the action.
When planning operations at Invalides using the Venue Twin visualisations, organisers are able to view how the venue will look at different times of day and in different weather conditions. This is an innovative way in which the Paris 2024 organising committee is able to plan the Games with multiple scenarios in mind, and plan for any potential scenario.

[Source: US Sailing] US Sailing and Miami Yacht Club have agreed to co-host the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials –Sailing. The 49er, Mixed 470, Men and Women’s IQ Foil, and Men’s and Women’s Formula Kite racing will be held Jan 6-13, 2024, while the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 classes will race Feb. 17-24, 2024. The racing will be held primarily on the Atlantic Ocean with course options on Biscayne Bay.

Tom Duggan, Principal Race Officer (PRO) for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, will serve as PRO for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Sailing. The Notices of Race for these events will be issued by Aug. 1, 2023.

“We are honored to have the Miami sailing community and, in particular, Miami Yacht Club’s patriotism and enthusiasm for supporting America’s top sailing athletes and their journey to represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” said Paul Cayard, executive director of the US Sailing Team. “The U.S. Olympic Team Trials are a competition which will test boat speed, focus, mental strength, the ability to win races, and the ability to sail consistently over a series of races, all of which are required to succeed at the Olympic Games.”

The athlete selection procedures for the 2024 Olympic Games were drafted by US Sailing’s International Selection Committee, which includes nine U.S. Olympians and is chaired by Olympic silver and bronze medalist, JJ Fetter. The selection procedures were approved by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and initially published in July 2022, with subsequent amendments to reflect this 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials announcement.

For the Women’s Skiff (49er FX), late selection will be the combined results of the 2024 FX World Championships in Lanzarote, Spain from February 27 – March 3^rd and the 2024 Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma, Spain from April 1 – 6^th.

For the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17), late selection will be the combined results of the 2024 Princess Sofia Regatta and the 2024 Nacra 17 Europeans in La Grande-Motte, France from May 7 – 12^th.

It should be noted that if an athlete/team both wins the qualification series for selection to the Olympic Test Event in Marseille in July 2023 and achieves a podium finish at that event, that athlete/team will qualify for Early Selection and be nominated as the representative(s) for Paris 2024, precluding a late selection regatta or regattas for that class.

Full Selection Procedures for the Paris 2024 Olympics can be found here

[Source: US Sailing] US Sailing and Miami Yacht Club have agreed to co-host the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials –Sailing. The 49er, Mixed 470, Men and Women’s IQ Foil, and Men’s and Women’s Formula Kite racing will be held Jan 6-13, 2024, while the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 classes will race Feb. 17-24, 2024. The racing will be held primarily on the Atlantic Ocean with course options on Biscayne Bay.

Tom Duggan, Principal Race Officer (PRO) for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, will serve as PRO for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Sailing. The Notices of Race for these events will be issued by Aug. 1, 2023.

“We are honored to have the Miami sailing community and, in particular, Miami Yacht Club’s patriotism and enthusiasm for supporting America’s top sailing athletes and their journey to represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” said Paul Cayard, executive director of the US Sailing Team. “The U.S. Olympic Team Trials are a competition which will test boat speed, focus, mental strength, the ability to win races, and the ability to sail consistently over a series of races, all of which are required to succeed at the Olympic Games.”

The athlete selection procedures for the 2024 Olympic Games were drafted by US Sailing’s International Selection Committee, which includes nine U.S. Olympians and is chaired by Olympic silver and bronze medalist, JJ Fetter. The selection procedures were approved by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and initially published in July 2022, with subsequent amendments to reflect this 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials announcement.

For the Women’s Skiff (49er FX), late selection will be the combined results of the 2024 FX World Championships in Lanzarote, Spain from February 27 – March 3^rd and the 2024 Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma, Spain from April 1 – 6^th.

For the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17), late selection will be the combined results of the 2024 Princess Sofia Regatta and the 2024 Nacra 17 Europeans in La Grande-Motte, France from May 7 – 12^th.

It should be noted that if an athlete/team both wins the qualification series for selection to the Olympic Test Event in Marseille in July 2023 and achieves a podium finish at that event, that athlete/team will qualify for Early Selection and be nominated as the representative(s) for Paris 2024, precluding a late selection regatta or regattas for that class.

Full Selection Procedures for the Paris 2024 Olympics can be found here

From delivering Beijing 2022 during the pandemic to the ramifications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 2022 was a challenging year for the Olympic Movement – but according to President Bach, the IOC can nonetheless look ahead with “hope and optimism” in a year that includes qualifiers for Paris 2024, and the first Olympic Esports Week.

“The power of sport as a force for good in the world is widely acknowledged – and it is needed more than ever. Especially in a time when division and conflict is gaining ground over dialogue and cooperation – in a time, when, tragically, it is not people but the guns of war that are doing the talking,” said Bach in his New Year’s Message.

This year will highlight the achievements of athletes on the road to Paris 2024. “The Olympic Qualifier Season is ongoing and already now has generated over 100 million additional engagements across Olympic social media platforms – thereby promoting the athletes and their sports in new and exciting ways.

“Another highlight of how we are opening new horizons and reaching new audiences with our values will be the inaugural Olympic Esports Week in 2023. Held in Singapore next June, the Olympic Esports Week will be the next major step for us to engage even deeper with the young generation."

Singapore also hosted the inaugural Global Esports Games in 2021 - an independent initiative of the Global Esports Federation.  

“Thanks to the great preparation by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, we can look forward to Olympic Games of a new era: inspired by Olympic Agenda from start to finish. The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be more inclusive, more youthful, more urban, more sustainable – and they will be the very first Olympic Games with full gender parity. And all of this in one of the most beautiful cities in the world," said Bach.

“This positive momentum is something that we can carry into the new year. Our values, our solidarity, our unity, our peace-mission – all this makes our beloved Olympic Movement so unique. This is the solid foundation on which we can build our future – on which we can build a better and more peaceful world through sport.”

[Source: Citec] The end of 2022 marks the coming together of two key players in the organization of major events. Playground, specialist in the design, planning and operational coordination of sporting events, joins Citec, transport engineering consultancy group, particularly involved in 2024/2026 Olympic Games, 2018 and 2022 Football World Cup, or the European Football Championships since 2008.
Playground is involved in many major events in France such as the 2019 Women's Football World Cup, Roland-Garros, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Torch Relay of Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, and produces its own events such as La Grande Course du Grand Paris, the Montpellier marathon and the Boulogne-Billancourt half-marathon via its General Public Events division.

What are the benefits of this merger for Citec/Playground customers?
Citec and Playground successfully operated on joint projects in the past already, as the Ryder Cup in 2018, among the most participated events worldwide. Both companies now share the same ambition "To globally support event organizers, by offering a complete set of services, from planning to operations" explains Franco Tufo, CEO and founder of the Citec group. This merger enlarges the range of both players’ expertise, so that their client who will now benefit from recognized skills in the areas of accommodation, food&beverage and transport, for the organization of major events.

Continuity, trust, growth
This merger will allow the two companies to develop common and unique offers for organizers of major events, from strategy to the delivery of operations. Citec group will also provide the necessary support to Playground to continue its growth in a serene way, by giving it access to the financial, commercial, and administrative resources of a sustainable human-scale group.
The current management team as well as all of Playground's employees are not only maintained but reinforced, with the recruitment of new employees to support the requests which have already confirmed the interest in a complete service. Stefano Manelli, Citec Large Events Manager and Franco Tufo, Citec CEO will be the go-between with the Citec group.
“Since the beginning of our collaboration and exchanges, our vision of the future of major sporting events and the human and professional values that drive us have always been in perfect harmony. This merger marks a major turning point in the history of Playground, and we are convinced that this new adventure will be beneficial to all players in the sports movement, in particular our clients, partners and our teams", adds Yoann Arzur, Playground Managing Director.
After the acquisition of Interface Transport, firm specialized in logistics, in 2018, and shares in IMDM, expert in asset management, in 2021, Citec completes its range of services and continues its growth dynamic in 2022.

About Citec
Founded in 1994, Citec is an independent group of engineers and consultants specialized in the planning, management, development, and regulation of transport. The design of mobility systems for large events is at the heart of Citec activity, with more than 30 major events organized in 15 countries to its credit. Based in Switzerland, the group has a hundred employees in 9 agencies in Switzerland, France, and Italy. The group, 100% owned by its employees, achieved a turnover of CHF 14 million in 2021.
www.citec.ch

About Playground
Playground is an event engineering company supporting organizers in the design, planning and operational coordination of their events, with recognized expertise in accommodation, transport, and catering. Founded in 2017, this company based in Paris and Bordeaux has more than 120 events to its credit.
www.playground-event.fr
 

[Source: Paris 2024] Following initial validation by the Executive Board on 23 June, Paris 2024 is continuing its efforts to optimise the Olympic and Paralympic venues master plan, which ensures enhanced competition conditions, helps keep control of the budget, and preserves the legacy of the Games for local residents and regional authorities. The Board of Directors of Paris 2024 has approved the potential solutions identified, and granted a mandate to the organisation to continue working with the stakeholders involved, before the propositions are  officially presented to the IOC and IPC for final validation.

Châteauroux identified as a venue for shooting and shooting Para sport

The Board of Directors of Paris 2024 has confirmed that the shooting and shooting Para sport events are to be moved and the venue in Châteauroux as the favoured option offering the best conditions for the organisation of the competitions in 2024. Drawing upon the positive exchanges with the Fédération Nationale de Tir (National Shooting Federation), and the enthusiasm of the elected regional authorities, Paris 2024 is continuing discussions with the actors involved to finalise the technical and financial matters relating to this new host territory.

The “Terrain des Essences”, in La Courneuve, which was initially identified to host the shooting and shooting Para sport, will remain a competition venue. It will serve as the starting point for the Para marathon and the Mass Event Road cycling; there is less temporary infrastructure required for these two events. The large-scale decontamination and renaturing work will continue on the 13-hectare site, meaning the Games leave a lasting legacy that will benefit the area and its residents.

With Villepinte, new competitions will be hosted in Seine-Saint-Denis

The Board of Directors has approved the site of Villepinte, in Seine-Saint-Denis, to host the boxing preliminaries, the fencing ranking round of modern pentathlon and sitting volleyball during the Paralympic Games. The venue is subject to validation by the relevant international federations. The final stages of the boxing events will be held in Roland Garros, on the Philippe-Chatrier court, after the Tennis competition.

With Villepinte, and with the para cycling events being held at Clichy-Sous-Bois, in addition to all the sites that are already on the venues master plan, Seine-Saint-Denis is, even more than before, at the very heart of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille has been selected to host the basketball preliminary rounds

Following discussions with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the IOC, the Board of Directors has mandated Paris 2024 to propose the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille for the organisation of the preliminary phase of the basketball events.

Stade Pierre Mauroy has a history of hosting major international competitions. The record attendance for a basketball match in Europe was broken at Stade Pierre-Mauroy at the EuroBasket final in 2015 (27,372 spectators).

This new arrangement has the benefit of providing greater coherence between different team sports. With the basketball preliminaries being held in Lille, the handball preliminaries can be staged in Paris, in Hall 6 of the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles. Thus, handball players will have the possibility of competing in Paris. From the quarterfinals onwards, the basketball competition will take place at Arena Bercy in the heart of Paris. This option also helps optimise the use of existing competition venues and keeps the budget under control thanks to the exceptional capacity of the competition site in Lille.

Next step

The IOC will  provide a final approval of these venues after full completion of the technical assessments as to the Pierre Mauroy Stadium's compliance with FIBA’s requirements.

Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games planned to take place in the very heart of the city

The Board of Directors has officially mandated Paris 2024 to present to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) the alternative concept of a Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony in the heart of the host city, Paris. Organised on the iconic Place De La Concorde, the Ceremony would be offering Paralympic athletes a unique experience.

Discussions will be held in the coming weeks with the IPC to agree on areas such as spectator capacity, accessibility, athletes' experience and budget, to define the most appropriate scenario for the Paralympics Games Opening Ceremony.

The two closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place at the Stade De France, in Saint-Denis.

Representatives of the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Paris 2024 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games spoke out at COP26 in Glasgow to highlight sport's capacity for action on climate change.

The speakers are all involved in the Sports for Climate Action Framework, which was launched at COP24 Katowice in 2018 as a collaboration between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and sports organisations from all over the world.

The aims are dual: firstly to get the sports sector to move together towards a climate neutral world, and secondly to use its enormous reach to educate, inspire and raise awareness for climate action.

“Sport has a big climate footprint,” Niclas Svenningsen, Manager for the Global Climate Action team at UNFCCC told delegates at COP26 in Glasgow.

But sport also has a huge power to influence. “Not everyone might have a favourite politician, but everyone has a favourite athlete or club,” he pointed out.

Since its launch, the Sports for Climate Action Framework has grown to encompass 300 sports organisations including IOC, FIFA, Paris 2024 and many others. As one of the first sectoral partnerships, the sports framework has also led the way for other sectors to follow suit.

“We want to promote sustainable consumption and advocate more climate action towards athletes, fans, suppliers and everyone else.”

The Sports for Climate Action Framework aligns the sports sector with the UNFCCC Paris agreement to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net zero by at least 2050 – including emissions by suppliers. The Sports for Climate Action Framework has set its own target to surpass this goal and achieve net zero by 2040.

“Almost everyone says we have to do this,” said Svenningsen.

One of the first organisations to get involved in Sports for Climate Action with the UNFCCC was the IOC.

Julie Duffus, Sustainability Senior Manager at the IOC confirmed that the organisation is on track with these goals. And in addition to the UNFCCC targets, the IOC has added an interim goal of reducing the carbon footprint of the Games by 30% by 2024, beyond which all future Games will have to be climate positive.

When it “walks the talk” on climate change, sports can use its power to influence others to change.

“We have such an opportunity to reach so many people,” Duffus said. “We also work with the Olympic movement – international federations, National Olympic Committees and Organising Committees – to reduce their carbon footprint and to use their agency to reach people.

“The athletes are great advocates to reach so many people. If we can give them a voice, we can reach a lot more people to take action individually and within their communities.”

Engaging everyone on earth

Hannah Mills MBE, the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time, is a sustainability ambassador for IOC. Her interest in sustainability began at Rio 2016 where she saw the scale of the problem of plastic pollution.

“What I’m really passionate about is using my voice, but also encouraging other athletes to lend their voice to these massive challenges,” she said.

“Nothing brings people together as much as sport or the Olympic Games does. It’s an amazing coming together of the human race in one place.

“I’m here to say to the politicians: Tokyo delivered a Games that no one that no one thought would happen – now it’s over to you to lead and deliver for us at COP26.

“We need every single person on earth to be engaged with it and doing their bit.”

“Everyone here is really committed to giving sport the platform and the opportunity to put forward the agenda for climate change and the sustainable development goals.

“Athletes have a key role. I appreciate we have a footprint as well, through sports events. But sport has a positive impact in so many areas and if we can harness that, then we stand a really good chance of tackling this crisis in the way that we need to.”

Team spirit

As Director of Sustainability at the Paris 2024 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Georgina Grenon is responsible for achieving climate action.

“The Olympic and Paralympic Games is the biggest event in the world, and we are facing mankind’s biggest challenge.

“We couldn’t stage the Games like we used to. That’s why we’re fully aligned with the Paris agreement, to be the first Games to leave a positive impact on the environment.

“It is not easy. This is a race we have to win, and this is where athletes inspire us. We all have to become climate athletes, to be inspired by their resilience, to be objective and to go beyond what was done before.”

The carbon footprint of previous Summer Olympic Games has been estimated to be around 3.5m tons of CO2. The biggest component of this is travel, followed by construction, and then operations.

Using guidelines from the IOC, the Paris 2024 organisers have assessed the carbon footprint of their Games to be 1.5m tonnes of CO2. This major reduction is being achieved using 100% renewable energy, by building in a more efficient way, and by using existing buildings.

“This is how you start slashing emissions in a pragmatic way. It takes team spirit with international organisations like the IOC and all our suppliers to make this happen,” says Grenon.

“We are trying to progress in our way and want to get all of you in Paris in 2024 to celebrate this win as well.”

Positive brand affiliations

Hannah Mills highlighted another important responsibility of athletes and sports organisations – their affiliation with brands.

“As an athlete what’s not talked about enough is sponsorship in sport – who athletes choose to partner with and the messages they send.

“We have audiences, including young people who are influenced. We want to send positive messages from brands who want to do the right thing.

“Sport events have the ability showcase many solutions that wouldn’t have the platform otherwise.

“We can give sponsors the opportunity to show their best in these sport events,” Grenon added. “Most of the solutions are not there and we can’t bring them up on our own.”

“Sport has to come together with academia to find these solutions,” said Duffus. “It’s only by working together that we are going to solve this crisis.”

As well as decarbonising, Paris 2024 is also working across all 17 UN Sustainable Development goals “The social aspects are extremely important,” said Grenon. “This is how you build a sustainable legacy for the Games.”

The Olympic movement might be ahead of some sectors in decarbonisation, but there is still no time to lose.

“We have known about climate change for 100 years. We have to change now,” said Svenningsen.

“Sports is such an important part of raising awareness – it’s like the oil in the machinery. I’m positive we are going to reach a goal.”

To find out more from UNFCCC, IOC, Paris 2024 and how events can contribute to the environmental bottom line, register now for Host City 2021, taking place online from Glasgow on 7-8 December

Dow has been a partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2010, initially working on providing technologies and solutions for the Games.

“Our products are everywhere and so they can also be enabling of and supporting the Games,” says Dr. Nicoletta Piccolrovazzi, Global Technology & Sustainability Director, Dow Olympic & Sports Solutions.

“We wanted to understand how we could use this partnership to go beyond and to integrate more our experiences and expertise of sustainability. That’s why we became the Carbon Partner of the Sochi Games.

“We are using sport to create an acceleration, to help us bring businesses to the table and to collaborate on CO2 reduction projects.”

Following its first tenure as Carbon Partner for the Sochi 2014, Dow went on to become Carbon Partner of Rio 2016 – during which Host City ran a digital communications campaign with Dow. And then in 2017, Dow became Carbon Partner of the IOC.

“We have taken this platform from a Games focus and a host country focus to now a global focus. It’s our global platform of collaboration on climate change that utilises our technologies, our customers’ technologies and engages the entire value chain on projects.”

95 to 96 per cent of products are enabled by chemistry, much of which enables reductions in CO2. For instance, Dow’s products go into insulation.

“What we have seen is the benefits that we deliver in terms of CO2 reductions from our products far outweigh the carbon footprint of when they are being manufactured. It’s a ratio of three or four to one of CO2 reduction benefits that we enable through our products.”

Paris 2024 is already talking of reducing its carbon footprint by 50 per cent, and there is much work to be done to establish how to achieve this.

“It’s really good that Paris focusses on how to reduce their emissions,” says Piccolrovazzi. “It’s very important for us to focus on understanding the impact and then reducing the emissions.

“Every Games needs to define an effective mitigation strategy. That is still being developed by Paris. Every Games needs to do something that is relevant for their own emission reality.”

5 million tonne CO2e reduction

[Source: Dow] By 7 February 2020, the cumulative greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from Dow’s carbon programs with Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and the IOC had reached more than 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), according to third-party verification by Environmental Resources Management (ERM). This compares to an amount of CO2 sequestered by 6.5 million acres of U.S. forests in one year.

In 2019 alone, Dow’s carbon program with the IOC reduced 655,000 tonnes CO2e of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the equivalent of 139,026 vehicles driven for one year. By 2026 – the end of the monitoring period agreed to by the IOC – the carbon benefits are expected to reach more than 7 million tonnes of CO2e.

As a part of the carbon partnership program with the IOC, Dow announced several new projects in 2019 with collaborators, including PETRONAS Chemicals Group, the U.S. Green Building Council, the AIA International Region, Firestone Building Products and Restore the Earth Foundation. These greenhouse gas reduction projects are part of Dow’s Sustainable Future Program, which harnesses the power of sport and science to accelerate the adoption of more sustainable technologies across value chains and upgrade business-as-usual practices locally. The project portfolio has been developed to address a wide range of applications, such as high performance buildings and infrastructure, reforestation, improvements in packaging and industrial efficiency.

“In line with our strong commitment to sustainability, the IOC measures its annual carbon footprint and implements various measures to reduce them. Thanks to our Official Carbon Partnership with Dow we have also been able to offset our unavoidable emissions for the period between 2017 and 2020,” said Marie Sallois, IOC director of corporate & sustainable development. “The results that Dow continues to deliver are now exceeding our operational emissions, creating a tangible, positive legacy.”

With a joint vision of accelerating climate action across the Olympic Movement, Dow and the IOC also announced in 2019 a new program to encourage and incentivize International Sports Federations (IFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to measure, reduce and mitigate the carbon emissions related to their operations and events. As part of the program, carbon offsets are offered to IFs and NOCs that have joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Sports for Climate Action Framework and implemented tangible action to reduce GHG emissions within their respective operations and events. Ten IFs benefitted from the program in 2019. In 2020, the initiative will be expanded to include submissions from NOCs in addition to IFs.

For more information about Dow’s more than 35 years of support of the Olympic Movement and commitment to sustainability through sports, visit https://www.dow.com/en-us/sports/partnerships/olympics.

The role of sports in dealing with climate change may have been the most prominent on-stage theme at Global Sports Week Paris – largely thanks to the challenging presence of “Young Sports Makers” – but it was another threat to humanity that dominated conversations amongst participants. One insider told Host City that the novel coronavirus, which is currently forcing the cancellation of several major events in China including Olympic qualifiers, could even lead to the cancellation of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

But Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, is confident that the show will go in Tokyo.

“We are following this closely at the moment,” he said. “We don’t have an impact on what’s happening in Asia with the coronavirus, but we will learn from how Tokyo 2020 put in place good measures and actions to protect the security of athletes and spectators.

“Tokyo 2020 have declared that they are very involved in this topic. It’s good that, with the Japanese culture, when they decide to do something they will always deliver very carefully and effectively. We can all be very confident that Tokyo 2020 won’t be affected by this.”

This view was echoed by Andrew Parsons, president of the International Olympic Committee. “We are concerned but trust that the health authorities on a national and global level are able to control it,” he said.

While epidemics could become more prevalent in the future, the organisers of Paris 2024 are confident that they would be well equipped to react if an outbreak were to happen in their own Olympic year.

“Of course, as an organising committee it is something you want to avoid, so we have good relations with the state and the minister to make sure that if something like that were to happen, we would have a good response,” said Estanguet.

Paris is also watching and learning from Tokyo in many other areas. “Our team has been associated with the preparations of Tokyo 2020 over the last two years through the Coordination Commission meetings. All our directors went to Tokyo to have special exchanges in terms of venues, technology, sport communication – I’d like to thank Tokyo 2020 for sharing their expertise.

Games-time will be the key moment, he said. “We’ll go there to observe and learn. It will be very important for us to follow the event itself backstage. Many of my team have never organized an Olympic Games, so for them it will be very useful to go there.”

Half the carbon of London

London 2012 was a great step forward in sustainability for the Olympic Games and 12 years on, Paris is aiming for a new benchmark.

“We have no choice. This is a challenge the whole of humanity is facing and events need to be part of the solution,” Estanguet said.

“Our ambition is to divide by two the carbon footprint of the Games. Compared to London it’s less than half the footprint.”

The biggest contributor to carbon emissions is facilities, followed by transport. Paris’s ambition is all the more impressive considering that the target includes transport to – not just within – the host city.

“For the first time we will take into consideration all transport, including planes and spectators coming here, which is 1.5n tonnes of carbon. And within Paris our objective it to make sure people use public transport,” he told Host City.

The third biggest contributor to carbon emissions is energy, which provider EDF is mitigating by using 100 per cent renewables for the Games.

Control the budget

Staying in step with project milestones is not easy for any Olympic Games organiser. “We have many challenges,” said Estanguet. “We will start the first construction over the next months. It’s key to start as early as possible, to keep to the timeline.”

“We are still on track to deliver the first element of the buildings in January 2021. We have good commissions to choose who will build the aquatics centre.”

Using 95 per cent existing or temporary venues reduces much of the capital expenditure for Paris, but the Games will still require 6.8 billion euros of funding, including 1.2 billion of sponsorship.

“The commercial programme is on track,” he said. “It’s not as fast as Tokyo 2020, but their budget is much higher. With Paris 2024 we are in a situation where we can limit the budget to make sure we can deliver without having big exposure in terms of budget as has happened in recent Games, including Tokyo, where the budget has really increased since they have been elected.

“My first objective is to control the budget. We are confident we will find this money from the sponsorship programme, which is 1.2 billion euros. So far, we have good contact with companies and I’m very confident.

“We’ll also engage with the population; we’ll launch a big programme with Club 2024 open to everyone to participate in 2024. That’s crucial for us this coming year, to engage at a national and international level.”

The perfect wave

Paris had the choice of four sports to add to the programme for 2024 and appealing to young audiences was central to the decision. “We decided to choose two nature sports: surfing and climbing, and two more urban sports, breakdancing and skateboarding, to make sure youth who are really engaged on social media will be attracted by the 2024 programme,” said Estanguet.

This will be the first time that breakdancing features in the in the Olympic Games. “It is a good combination with the values of Paris 2024 because of the creativity and the link with culture – and it’s very technical, physical and spectacular. We believe it will add something new and different from the 28 current sports.”

He also revealed why the organising committee chose Tahiti as the venue for the surfing: “Because at this time of year there is a 95 per cent chance of the perfect wave.”

Sport as a service

The younger generation also exemplify the rise of everything-as-a-service, as highlighted by French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu.

“Right now we are at a crucial time for the sport movement. People want sport but the they want it differently – they expect it as service. We have to be more aware of what people want from us and what they need.

“Young people are waiting on us before, during and after the Games – we have to ready to bring them more facilities, more sports, more education in sports.”

And sport is not just for its own sake or for entertainment – it has a big role to play in tackling the big threats to humanity. “Sports can be the solution for better public health and environment. Sport can be a big solution for all politics and what society is facing right now.”