8th WORLD CONFERENCE ON SPORT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Report
for integrity. However, you do not need to be an Olympian to go back to your community and
inspire youngpeople and your community.
A delegate asked if it was important that for young people you do not need Olympians, sometimes
community athletes can be role models. It is also important to have information after the athlete
has left. You need a solid curriculum to enforce this. Athletes also need training in public speaking
in order to change the behaviour of the students. What kinds of preparation are there?
Mr Gauthier – As an athlete who gives many presentations to children, there is inspiration
during the presentation. However, if there is no follow-up then there is a problem.
Ms Van Der Kamp – Clean Air Champions has created activities for teachers. Also athletes
speak to kids and challenge them to change their transportation methods following the
presentation. The athlete will then come back and give them awards based on changes they
made. For kids who got this preparation time, the response is much greater and more heartfelt
for the longer term. Follow-up is so critical.
4.16. Closing Session: Where to from Here
8th World Conference on Sport and the Environment
International Cooperation and Development Department
Mr John Furlong,
CEO, Vancouver Organising Committee for the 2010 Olympic
and Paralympic Games (VANOC), Canada
Mr Furlong closed the 8th World Conference by recalling a story from when he fi rst moved to
Canada. He remembered driving on the highway and seeing someone throw out some garbage
from his car, which angered him immensely as it showed a lack of respect for the natural
environment. However, as a society, we have come a long way as we do not tolerate that sort of
behaviour any longer.
Mr Furlong also refl ected on the formation of VANOC after winning the rights to host the 2010
Winter Games. The leadership was intensely debating the vision and mission of the Organising
Committee, and there was a strong belief that sustainability, including social, economic and
environmental sustainability, should be a core part of the organisation. There was some pushback
regarding sustainability but it was eventually adopted in the vision statement and as a value
of the OCOG. Mr Furlong stated that the values of the 2010 Games had “protected us” but
values were not things that you could put on a shelf and bring down when it was convenient.
Putting sustainability in the vision statement set things on a course and had to be followed up.
OCOGs, he stated, have infl uences and what they do can change the world. There is an incredible
opportunity to demonstrate that things can be done differently, but they had a long way to go to
achieve this.
Mr Furlong had hope for the outcome of the 2010 Olympic Games, that people could walk away
from the Games and talk about accomplishments, far greater than carbon neutrality, highest water
mark ever, and venues as lasting legacies. The Games were also seen as inclusive and had the
ability to reach everyone in the country. He hoped that this project touched everyone in a profound
way and left no one out, more specifi cally the aboriginal community. Mr Furlong also hoped that
the next OCOG would not have to wait for sponsors to be involved, just like Vancouver had. He
hoped that legacies would not only go beyond the environment, but all the physical legacies and
their contributions to life in general in this region. Above all Mr Furlong hoped that the “human
spirit had soared”. He hoped that they would have evolved by the next Conference and embraced
all the pillars of sustainability, not just the environment. Athletes have a profound ability to create
agents of change and that is something that should be harnessed.
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