Hello and welcome to 100 Days of Summer, my name is Christiaan Page, and we’re going to be counting down the days before the Tokyo Olympic Games. This is always a crunchy part of the journey from my experience. After 20 years of delivering the games all over the world, this is one of the most exciting parts for anyone who works in the event delivery business. My colleagues and friends who deliver all the technology and infrastructure that goes into making the venues, start their final preparations in the last 100 days. It’s certainly the most demanding and challenging time because it is the culmination of seven years of planning for the Games.
I get asked all the time, especially in the current environment, if the Games are going to happen. I was recently asked this question from one of my colleagues here at MSI in Lausanne. He said “Christiaan, you’ve worked with lots of OCGs and at lots of games, in your experience, do you think the Games are going to happen?” I said, “absolutely, I feel we owe it to the global community to see these Games happen”. For me personally it’s bigger than us. The Games are beyond just individuals or athletes, I feel the Olympic Games brings a sense of purpose and focus. And given the last 18 months that we’ve all experienced with the current COVID crisis, I feel like this is going to be the breath of fresh air. We need something to focus on, and personally, I’m really looking forward to having that. I feel I have a sense of responsibility that we ensure these Games happen, not just for the athletes, not just for the partners and sponsors, But for the planet. I think as a human race, we need something positive to focus on. And I really believe the Games are something positive that brings the global community together.
Another question I was asked was, at the moment the media are giving the Games a really hard time. There’s a lot of reports stating that the Games are unpopular. Certain parts of the community in Japan, especially Tokyo, are not willing or do not want the Games to happen. Well, this is actually kind of normal, we see this every game cycle. We go from the appointment of the winning city, to the host city winning the bid. There’s a real peak and public enthusiasm. And then over the period before the games, we go through peaks and troughs of public opinion. During this process we have some crises, incidents, or something going wrong. And then there’s always the question of the game’s budget. This last 100 days is probably the hardest for the organizing committee and anyone involved with the games, in regard to maintaining that positivity of public opinion. But from my experience, what I’ve always observed is that the torch on its journey around Japan will create a positive public opinion, especially when it arrives in Tokyo. I am confident this will happen as so far; the Olympic spirit has never failed. So, I’m really excited for this journey.
The third question was about the international visitors, and whether the lack of international fans is going to have an impact. Of course it’s going to have an impact, we will not have fans coming to cheer on their athletes. But at the same time, I know how welcoming Tokyo is going to be, and Japan is going to be to the athletes of these games. And I have no doubt when we think about the ticket sales, that they could have sold several times over. There’s no issue or concern about whether the athletes are going to have the support in the stadiums. Of course, it would be wonderful to have people cheering from your home country. But I have no doubt that the people of Tokyo and the people of Japan will be out supporting these athletes.
So those are the three questions I was asked, which I thought I’d just share as we kick off this 100 days of summer. Now, over the next 100 days, I am planning to give a little insight of my personal journey, as we go into the delivery phase. At this stage, I’m working with different organizations, mostly with the IOC, but a lot of the time I’m supporting and looking at how we can make sure these games happen. Through this series, I will be giving little insights into my journey.
I want to say thank you for tuning in. And if you’ve got any questions as we go through these 100 days, send me the question and I will do my best to answer it. If there is a specific topic that you want answered about how the games are delivered from a technology perspective, or other perspectives, I will try my best to explain. Enjoy the 100 days of summer and bye for now.
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