The boss of a global sports education organisation has outlined how the Sunshine Coast can make the most of the 2032 Olympic Games.
Switzerland-based World Academy of Sport CEO Chris Solly has more than three decades of experience in sports development and management.
He was instrumental in the conception and creation of Olympic and Paralympic Games Knowledge Services, a joint venture with the International Olympics Committee.
He was also the inaugural chief executive of the Australian Ski Institute as a forerunner to the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia, a high-performance centre of athletic excellence, and has represented Australia at five Winter Universiades, on four occasions as chef de mission.
Mr Solly has personal and professional ties to the region, collaborating with the University of the Sunshine Coast, and he will dip into this wealth of knowledge while speaking at a Sunshine Coast 2032 function on December 12.
“Every Games city has its opportunities and challenges and we can learn a lot from the success stories of the past,” he said.
“I spent 11 years living in the north of England in Manchester. They had the most outstanding CEO of the city, Sir Howard Burnstein, who was instrumental in the establishment of the World Academy of Sport, and they have really led the way globally as to how sport can make a difference to a city.
“Being a post-industrial town, with many residents still suffering from this socially and financially, Howard had a simple test each time we talked about a major event – will it produce jobs? Will it regenerate a part of the city? Will it make residents more active?
“They were three simple questions that if the sport team could not answer, they knew there was no point even having a conversation.
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“It forced the management and operational teams to think about how sport could support the community needs, not how the community could support sport.
“This is essentially the secret sauce in achieving both returns for the community and for sport, where one plus one equals 10.”
The Sunshine Coast is expected to host events at an upgraded stadium and new indoor sports centre at Bokarina, a new mountain bike venue at Parklands, and on roads and in the surf at Alexandra Headland. An athletes’ village is also planned for Maroochydore.
But these venues are subject to a 100-day review by the new state government.
Mr Solly urged people from all walks of life to get behind creating sustainable benefits for the community.
“Australia has one of the best national Olympic committees in the world (and) the support for our athletes is, on the whole, terrific for the population and size of the country,” he said.
“I would encourage people to start their own Games journey, maybe not as an athlete but as a community coach, as an administrator, completely outside the Games but using the deadline to achieve a personal or family goal by the start of the Games.
“You know the 2032 events coming to the Coast, so having a focus on those sports along with the other sports in the games and supporting young athletes to do their best in these sports is a great place to start.
“Then making sure that there are also easily accessible clubs for athletes to join those sports locally is also very important.
“Finally, educating local fans to follow these aspirants and understand the sport itself is vitally important. This then extends the value of the engagement leading into the games and well after as a social legacy.”
Mr Solly said the Sunshine Coast had the opportunity to see benefits across all industries, if community stakeholders think beyond supporting the sports events.
“What is clear is that the Sunshine Coast has the most amazing natural assets with three interconnecting UNESCO Biospheres, and this is unique,” he said.
“In my opinion, this should be considered as one of the key opportunities to share the way of life this creates and what it really means to future generations.
“We know through other work we do globally in education that the youth of today do really feel that the future is uncertain because of global warming driven by today’s lifestyles.
“The Sunshine Coast bucks this trend. It is such a unique place, respecting the indigenous way of life and moulding this with a sustainable model for the future. Probably still not perfect, but a lot better than other environments.
“The university is a leader in supporting Australia’s island neighbours, many of whom are at the forefront of global climate change and its impacts.
“My advice would be to continue to work together to capitalise on this. Perhaps we should aspire to have a Nobel laureate in this space coming from the local community. This, in many ways, is an academic Games gold medal.
“The most important sponsor of the Games is the taxpayer: the local community and working as a team with the Games structures is critical.”
