How Green Will My (Lea) Valley Be? Olympic Aspirations: Rhetoric or Reality

Abstract

Much debate surrounds the nature and reality of the legacy left to host cities after they hold an Olympic or a Winter Olympic Games. We argue and provide evidence that the debate is more about sustainability. The sustainability of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an organization and of the games that deliver the aspirations and goals of the Olympic movement are central issues in this debate. The IOC identifies its aspirations and goals in the Olympic Charter and within it the philosophy of Olympism. To realize these, the IOC must select a bid submitted by various city, country and national Olympic committee consortia to deliver the games. There are two separate issues here. First, that the host city must meet IOC demands contained in the OC and hosting contracts; that is, that the IOC's aspirations and numerous contractual stipulations are met and that sufficient revenues from operating the games are met. Second, the delivery of the games is to leave a ‘legacy’ (sustainable outcomes) from delivering the games. Two issues arise about whether host cities can do both – deliver a successful games, within the confines of the agreements, towards achieving IOC aspirations and goals and also deliver sustainable environmental, social and economic outcomes – thereby sustaining the IOC, the Olympic movement, Olympism and the lofty aspirations and goals of the Olympic Charter.

Notes

[1] This adaptation of the title of Richard Llewellyn's novel may appear to be both obtuse and irreverent. However, the sentiments of this wonderful elegy, which some say is one of the most beautiful novels ever written, and those of this meagre offering are honestly grounded in the hope for the sustainability of humankind and the planet. Reflecting upon his crumbling community, the narrator Huw Morgan looks back to the past and to the future, very much as we are doing so through the Olympic Games.

[2] While many national sport organizations existed by 1896, there were few international sport organizations. These few international sport organizations provided a hegemonic opening for the IOC and the Olympic Movement to enter. See Zakus, ‘A Preliminary Examination of the Dialectical Change’, ch. 3, especially 42–8.

[3] These factors of the Olympic Charter are more fully described in Zakus, ‘The Olympic Charter: A Historical Analysis’.

[4] Zakus, ‘The International Olympic Committee’.

[5] IOC, Olympic Charter (hereafter OC), 9.

[6] Ibid., 11.

[7] Ibid., 13.

[8] Ibid., 14.

[9] For ease of discussion and writing we refer to both versions of the games through the one term: ‘Olympic Games’.

[10]Concise Oxford Dictionary.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Cited in Gamble and Hoff, ‘Sustainable Community Development’.

[13] Sustainable Development: Definitions, available online at http://www.gdrc.org/sustdev/definitions.html, accessed 6 Sept. 2009.

[14] House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage, Sustainability for Survival.

[15] Dale, ‘Social Capital and Sustainable Community Development’, 15.

[16] Littig and Griessler, ‘Social Sustainability’, 72.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening, 15.

[19] Ibid., 8.

[20] Ibid., 15.

[21] Ibid., 273.

[22] Horton, ‘Sport as Public Diplomacy’, 857.

[23] Tagore, Stray Birds, line 130.

[24] Ibid., line 258.

[25] See Mangan and Dryerson, ‘Olympic Legacies’, passim.

[26] See OC, 15

[27] For a full account of Brundage's Olympic career and of his speech after the terrorist attack in Munich see Guttmann, The Games Must Go On.

[28] MacAloon, This Great Symbol.

[29] See Allison, Amateurism in Sport, 2001.

[30] MacAloon, This Great Symbol, passim.

[31] Stebbins, ‘The Serious Leisure Perspective’.

[32] There is a wide debate on how many pillars of sustainability need to be observed and ensured. Most have three pillars, which apparently lump the human and social together. We speak of these as separate pillars as this is more in keeping with a wider perspective of the concept.

[33] Hiller, ‘Assessing the Impact of Mega-Events’, 47–9.

[34] Horton, ‘Olympism in the Asia-Pacific Region’, 173–4.

[35] The IOC has more member nations than the United Nations. An interesting feat.

[36] Zakus, ‘Sustainability of Community Sport Organizations’.

[37] See Craig, ‘Community Capacity Building'; Lawson, ‘Empowering People'; and Vail, ‘Community Development and Sports Partcipation'.

[38] Mawson, The Social Entrepreneur, 1–14.

[39] We couch this acknowledgement of social entrepreneurs and Mawson's fine community capacity and social capital building while pointing to the inequalities and structural issues of the wider neo-liberal agenda. The underlying issues remain and programmes such as Mawson's are local, limited examples of how to deal with the material inequalities.

[40] Vail, ‘Community Development and Sports Participation’, 572–9.

[41] See Zakus, ‘The International Olympic Committee’ for a longer explication of the history of the IOC's financial problems. Also see Barney et al., Selling the Five Rings.

[42] Ibid., passim.

[43] The IOC holds a wide variety and large volume of financial resources should any of these risks arise. Some of the finances of the IOC can be found on their official website: http://www.olympic.org.

[44] Toohey, ‘The Sydney Olympics’, 1962–3.

[45] auf der Maur, The Billion Dollar Game, passim.

[46] It must be remembered that the Montreal OCOG garnered a surplus; it was the governments of Montreal and Quebec that bore the brunt of Drapeau and his legacy.

[47] See Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening, 129–31.

[48] IOC, 2009b, 14.

[49] Ibid., 19.

[50] OC, ‘Rights over the Olympic Games and Olympic properties’:

1. The Olympic Games are the exclusive property of the IOC which owns all rights and data relating thereto, in particular, and without limitation, all rights relating to their organisation, exploitation, broadcasting, recording, representation, reproduction, access and dissemination in any form and by any means or mechanism whatsoever, whether now existing or developed in the future. The IOC shall determine the conditions of access to and the conditions of any use of data relating to the Olympic Games and to the competitions and sports performances of the Olympic Games.

2. The Olympic symbol, flag, motto, anthem, identifications (including but not limited to ‘Olympic Games’ and ‘Games of the Olympiad’), designations, emblems, flame and torches, as defined in Rules 8–14 below shall be collectively or individually referred to as ‘Olympic properties’. All rights to any and all Olympic properties, as well as all rights to the use thereof, belong exclusively to the IOC, including but not limited to the use for any profit-making, commercial or advertising purposes. The IOC may license all or part of its rights on terms and conditions set forth by the IOC Executive Board.

[51] For an outline of this process in action from the Beijing Games of 2008 to the organizing committee of the London 2012 Olympic Games, see http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/london/full_story_uk.asp?id=2873, accessed 1 Sept. 2009.

[52] See Towards a One Planet 2012, 9.

[53] S. Wilson, ‘IOC president Jacques Rogge says economic issues shouldn't drive decision on 2016 host city’, Sportsnews, available online at http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2009/06/16/ioc-president-jacques-rogge-says-economic-issues-shouldnt-drive-decision-on-2016-host-city-4456/, accessed 1 Sept. 2009.

[54] Ibid.

[55] Ibid.

[56] Ibid.

[57] Shipway, ‘Sustainable Legacies for the 2012 Olympic Games’, 120.

[58] Chappelet, ‘Olympic Environmental Concerns as a Legacy of the Winter Games', passim.

[59] For a discussion of the Nobel Prize initiative, see Jennings, New Lords of the Rings.

[60] OC, 15.

[61] Horton, ‘“And the Winner is … Sydney!”’, passim.

[62] IOC, ‘The Olympic Movement's Agenda 21’.

[63] VANOC, ‘Sustainability and Aboriginal Participation’.

[64] Ibid.

[65] Furrer, ‘Sustainable Olympic Games’, 12.

[66] Ibid., 13.

[67] Ibid., 12.

[68] Beyer, ‘The Green Olympic Movement’, 423.

[69] OC, 15.

[70] Landry and Yerlè, One Hundred Years: The Idea, the Presidents, the Achievements.

[71] Lellouche, ‘Albertville and Savoie 1992', 319.

[72] Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening, 192.

[73] Ibid., 192–3.

[74] J-A. Samaranch, quoted in Cashman and Hughes, The Green Games, 34, and Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening, 193.

[75] Lenskyj, ‘Green Games or Empty Promises?’.

[76] Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening, 213.

[77] Ibid., 215.

[78] Ibid., 202–8.

[79] See Lenskyj, The Best Olympics Ever?.

[80] Furrer, ‘Sustainable Olympic Games’, 12.

[81]‘Goals and Concepts’ (2007), Official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, BOCOG, available at http://en.beijing2008.cn/bocog/concepts/, accessed 2 Sept. 2007. These three themes were chosen by the Chinese very deliberately as they not only indicate an attempt to comply with current dominant international philosophy and policy but are also congruent with the already established san ge dai bioa (‘The Three Represents’) doctrine of: ‘most advanced mode of production, most advanced culture and interest of the majority of the people’ which, devised by Jiang Zemin in 2000 had been incorporated into constitution in 2003.

[82] Beyer, ‘The Green Olympic Movement’.

[83] Ibid.

[84] Ibid.

[85]‘Haze hovers over Beijing day before the opening ceremony’, Reuters, 7 Aug. 2008, available online at http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSPEK22736320080807, accessed 8 Aug. 2008.

[86] Seligsohn, ‘But Was It the ‘Green Olympics?’.

[87] Dong and Mangan, ‘Beijing Olympic Legacies’, 2032.

[88] Ibid., 2032–3.

[89] See Horton, ‘“And the Winner is … Sydney!”’, 863.

[90] Greenpeace, ‘China after the Olympics’.

[91] Ibid.

[92] Ibid., ‘Conclusion – Lessons for future Games and Beijing and Beyond 2008’, 42.

[93] Ibid.

[94] Ibid.

[95] Ibid.

[96] The scope of the closures and the strictness of the bans were incredible. Hundreds of mines, steel mills, factories, power stations, cement works, chemical and petrochemical plants were shut down or forced to work at reduced capacities and to reduce emissions. Coke, iron and of course power production was dramatically reduced. These measures were not only imposed on heavy industries in and around Beijing but on coal-burning plants as far afield as Inner Mongolia! (See ‘Olympics: Factories and mines shut down to reduce smog’, AsiaNewsit.com, 23 July 2008, available at http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=12830&size=A, accessed 12 Aug. 2008.

[97] T. Tran, ‘Beijing's Air Worse Than at Past Olympics’, US News and Report, 21 June 2009, available at http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/06/21/study-beijings-air-worse-than-at-past-olympics.html, accessed 20 Sept. 2009.

[98] See Dong and Mangan, ‘Beijing Olympic Legacies’, 2032–4.

[99] Ibid.

[100] Tran, ‘Beijing's Air Worse Than at Past Olympics’.

[101] Seligsohn, ‘But Was It the ‘Green Olympics?’.

[102] Ibid.

[103] Ibid.

[104] Ibid.

[105] WRI, ‘Energy and Climate Policy Action in China’.

[106] Ibid.

[107] See ibid., 1–2:

	√ ADOPTED A 20% REDUCTION IN NATIONAL ENERGY INTENSITY BY 2010
	Implemented energy efficiency programs.
	Raised taxes on petroleum.
	Adopted new rural vehicle fuel economy standards.
	Put China's energy conservation law into effect.
	Required green government procurement
	Announced a new program in May 2009 to provide subsides to promote green home appliances
	√ PASSED A NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY STANDARD OF 15% BY 2020
	Grew its solar industry.
	Diversified domestic energy sources.
	Implemented coalbed and coalmine methane extraction projects.
	√ PROMOTED INFRASTRUCTURE FOR GREEN DEVELOPMENT. ONE-THIRD OF CHINA's STIMULUS PACKAGE IS FOCUSED ON INFRASTRUCTURE THAT WILL PROMOTE ENERGY EFFICIENCY.
	The major elements of the stimulus package are:
	$90 billion in rail construction in 2009.
	$160 billion over two years for electric grid construction.
	Made new buildings more energy efficient through clearer regulations and increasing enforcement.
	Established a pilot program in 13 cities to subsidize the purchase of hybrids, all electric and hydrogen vehicles for urban government vehicle fleets.
	Set goals for energy efficient lighting.

[108] Ibid., 2.

[109] ISEE, ‘World Population and GDP Growth’.

[110] US Census Bureau, Population Division.

[111] WRI, ‘Energy and Climate Policy Action in China’, 2.

[112] Dong and Mangan, ‘Beijing Olympic Legacies’, 2032.

[113]‘China, US vow urgent action on climate change’, Chinadaily, 28 Sept. 2009.

[114] B. Malkin, ‘G20: Australia lobbies for China to play greater role in IMF’, Daily Telegraph (London), 23 March 2009, available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5037981/G20-Australia-lobbies-for-China-to-play-greater-role-in-IMF.htmlst, accessed 5 April 2009.

[115]‘China, US vow urgent action on climate change’.

[116]Towards a One Planet 2012, London 2012 Sustainability Plan November 2007.

[117] Taylor and Edmonson, ‘Major Sporting Events – Planning for Legacy’, 173.

[118] The official London 2012 webpage, cited in ibid.

[119] Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening, 15.

[120]Gratton and Preuss, ‘Maximising Olympic Impacts by Building Up Legacies', 1922.

[121] Ibid., passim.

[122] Ibid.

[123] Ibid., 1924.

[124]Towards a One Planet 2012, 6.

[125] See DCMS, London 2012 Legacy Research Final Report.

[126] Tessa Jowell, ‘What Social Legacy of 2012?’ Speech to the Fabian Fringe, Manchester, 27 Sept. 2007, quoted in Girginov and Hills, ‘Sustainable Sports Legacy of the London Olympics’, 2101.

[127] IOC, ‘Report of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in 2008'.

[128] de Coubertin, Olympic Review, April 1911, 59–62, cited in, ‘Coubertin on Legacy', The Olympic Review, 2005, available at: http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_928.pdf, accessed 20 Sept. 09.

[129] Paul Kelso, ‘London 2012: British Olympic Association slams Government's post-Games planning’, Daily Telegraph, 7 Jul 2009, available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/london2012/5759084/London-2012-British-Olympicassociation-slams-Governments-post-Games-planning.html, accessed 20 Sept. 2009.

[130] Ibid.

[131] Tessa Jowell, ‘We are delivering legacy we promised’, Daily Telegraph, 21 July 2009, available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/london2012/5879054/London-2012-We-are-delivering-legacy-we-promised-says-Tessa-Jowell.html, accessed 20 Sept. 2009.

[132] Ibid.

[133] Richard Bright, ‘Conservatives make sporting pledges to wrest Labour decline’, Daily Telegraph, 25 March 2009, available at www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/…/Conservatives-make-sporting-pledges-to-wrest-Labour-decline.html, accessed 20 Sept. 2009.

[134] Taylor and Edmonson, ‘Major Sporting Events – Planning for Legacy’, 173.

[135] See IOC, ‘Report of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in 2008'.

[136]Towards a One Planet 2012; DCMS, London 2012 Legacy Research Final Report, 3.

[137] The title and fundamental concept for London 2012 Sustainability Plan 2012 was largely derived and inspired by the World Wildlife Fund's BioRegional concept of ‘One Planet Living’ and its ten guiding principles. See http://www.oneplanetliving.org/index.html, accessed 1 Sept. 2009.

[138] Ibid., 4–5.

[139] Ibid.

[140] Girginov and Hills, ‘Sustainable Sports Legacy of the London Olympics’, Table 2, 2101.

[141] See http://www.london.gov.uk/playsport/, accessed 1 Sept. 2009.

[142] The Inspire programme of the London 2012 Olympic Games is ‘An Olympic and Paralympic first, the Inspire programme officially recognises outstanding non-commercial projects and events inspired by the Games. Sport, culture, education, sustainability, volunteering and business opportunities all feature’ (available at http://www.london2012.com/get-involved/inspire-programme/index.php, accessed 3 Oct. 2009)

[143] Tessa Jowell, in DCMS, Before, During and After, 2.

[144] A typical comment reported in the Rio newspaper O Dia in October 2009, just after Rio won the 2016 Olympic bid was: ‘The film director Moacyr Góes confessed he was “haunted by the fear of corruption, the poor use of public money and the electoral use” of the Olympic Games. The Olympics should only take place in Rio, he concluded, “if they are good for those who live … in the areas controlled by drug traffickers or paramilitaries, for education, for those who spend their lives on board a hellish transport system“‘: Tom Phillips, ‘Rio de Janeiro Captures 2016 Olympics – but now the work begins’, The Guardian, 2 Oct. 2009, available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/oct/02/rio-de-janeiro-2016-olympics/print, accessed 7 Oct. 2009. Phillips goes on to say: ‘The aim is also to increase involvement of the local population, improve the socioeconomic and health benefits they derive from it, strengthen international cooperation projects for sustainable development, help combat social exclusion, encourage new consumer habits, promote a sports infrastructure which is even better adapted to social needs, and further improve the integration of development and environment concepts into sports policies. … That may be true. But in Rio de Janeiro, where the roads grow more congested by the day and where there were officially 5,717 homicides last year in the state as a whole, there is much still to be done. Even with a Brazilian God on Rio's side.’ Upon reflection these are comparatively minor ‘stumbling blocks’ when held up against those the selection of Beijing presented the Olympic fraternity. BBC journalist Paulo Cabral, writing from Deodoro, wrote: ‘Rio's victory was received with mixed feelings in the poor and run-down neighbourhood of Deodoro, the second most important site for the 2016 Olympics due. But even in the bars where TV sets were tuned to channels showing the Copenhagen decision, not everybody was paying attention. Unemployed Davidson Costa da Silva complained the government had the wrong priorities. “I don't think this is what we should spend money on now,” he said. “Look at our hospitals and our schools and you will know what I mean”‘ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8288219.stm, accessed 7 Oct. 2009). Such moments, however, are not atypical ahead of most Olympic Games, for example London's and Vancouver's successful bids were greeted with an avalanche of negative comments.

[145]‘An Introduction to Sustainability’.

[146] Lenskyj, Inside the Olympic Industry, 155.

[147] OC, 15.

[148] Dale, ‘Social Capital and Sustainable Community Development’, 15.

[149] Ibid.

[150] Littig and Griessler, ‘Social Sustainability’, 67.

[151] See Furrer, ‘Sustainable Olympic Games’, 15–18.

[152] While Agenda 21, which evolved from the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the product of the UN Conference held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 (the Rio Earth Summit), was exclusively concerned with the environment, the principles of the Olympic Movement's Agenda 21 have a wider remit. (IOC, cited in Furrer, ‘Sustainable Olympic Games’, 12.)

[153] IOC, ‘Conclusion and Recommendations’, 4.

[154] Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage, Sustainability for Survival.