8th WORLD CONFERENCE ON SPORT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

8th World Conference on Sport and the Environment
International Cooperation and Development Department
Ms Rebecca Scott,
IOC Member and Member of IOC Athletes’ Commission;
Olympic Gold Medallist (Cross-Country Skiing), Canada
Report
The Play it Cool Campaign recognised the severity of climate change and athletes’ work to offset
the carbon used. Athletes can be powerful role models.
Discussion:
Ms Van Der Kamp asked Octagon: how would you do research without the money or apply more
it generally?
Mr Wardle replied that it was not just the research but a mindset. Think from your audience’s
perspective. That really is the key to engagement.
Ms Smither concurred – what it comes down to is that the message has to be right. Different
audiences need different messages. When you look at programmes you need to understand
why they should care.
Ms Van Der Kamp – it is extremely important to develop a programme when you have the
buy-in and the stakeholders at the table.
A delegate asked what was the percentage of male versus females in the fan-base of the survey?
My second question is why you did not include Latin American countries in the survey, because
there is passion in that area.
Mr Wardle said that the surveys were self-selecting. Consumers self-selected themselves for
a survey based on their own interests, which had to be one of their three favourite sports. The
Games was one of the events for which the male/female ratio was pretty close to 50-50. There
is an agency in Brazil that has been contacted which will address the gap in Latin American
countries.
A delegate noted that there was a slide which indicated that 1 in 4 Canadians found the Games
to be detrimental, what does this represent?
Mr. Wardle replied that they did not probe around that statement so it was a hypothesis. It
could be the transportation costs or carbon footprint perspective which decreases support.
There is an idea in certain segments of the population that the Games are in many ways
detrimental.
A delegate asked in terms of access to athletes what type of agencies were available to engage in
these issues. What networks exist? For Ms Yaping Deng, what is the legacy of athlete involvement
in Beijing?
Ms Van Der Kamp – it seems that when an athlete is identifi ed with a cause, very often the
organisation fi nds them. One means would be the Canadian Olympic Committee. Gaining
access to an athlete is not that diffi cult, it is a question of fi nding the right fi t.
Mr Gauthier – The Canadian Paralympic Committee has a heroes programme which has
access to athletes and is able to adapt presentations based on the cause. It knows what
athlete interests are.
Ms Yaping Deng – In 2001 when Beijing won the bid it established a Working Group on the
environment. The Working Group went to society and schools and talked to people, reaching
millions, and received very positive feedback. The name has changed to the Beijing Education
Green Working Group. An example of its accomplishments was encouraging citizens to unplug
electronic devices. So education has been used to raise awareness publicly for conservation.
Also school programmes are used to change parent choices to be more sustainable.
Ms Van Der Kamp – We should not underestimate the value of an athlete in a national
competition or event. If they went to a world championship this is also amazing. Many athletes
can be effective in their local small communities.
A delegate said it was great to see data quantifi ed. Does Octagon research indicate potential for
fans to experience message fatigue; should we be cautious of overusing athletes?
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