BOA Calls Worlds of Sport and Politics to Action on Legacy
05 Jan 2010
At the start of the New Year, the British Olympic Association (BOA) is appealing for cross-party political support to ensure the opportunity to secure a sporting legacy for 2012 is not lost.
Speaking at a Parliament event entitled the ‘Importance of Sport’, the BOA’s Director of Olympic Performance and World Cup winning rugby coach, Sir Clive Woodward told MPs and Peers:
“2012 offers us a once in a lifetime opportunity to encourage more people to participate in sport, to ensure they have fun and enjoy it. Sport is my life – sport is an important part of many of your lives – and I passionately believe that introduced to the right sport in the right circumstances, everyone in this country can benefit from it as much as I have.
“It is no easy feat delivering a sports legacy from hosting a major event. No previous Olympic Host City has managed to achieve anything significantly tangible. But we in sport and the world of politics could ensure that there are policies in place to make sure we seize this unique opportunity.”
The BOA’s Chairman, Lord Colin Moynihan, contributing to a debate in the House of Lords on the 2012 Olympic Games, echoed Woodward’s thoughts about the need for a clear sporting legacy plan for 2012:
“The opportunity to deliver an Olympic sports legacy from the Games, not just for London but across the United Kingdom is a unique event in our lifetime. The hosting of the Games has raised the profile and political popularity of sport higher up the political agenda than ever before. Post 2012, competing demands for public funding will reappear and the challenge for those of us in sport will be to ensure that, having reached for the skies, we secure, post 2012, as high a cruising altitude for the world of British sport as possible.
“Now is the time to build upon and develop a coherently designed, financed and implemented Olympic Sports Legacy Programme, with all 2012 stakeholders working together to support and contribute to its success.”
Lord Moynihan suggested the essential elements for a sporting legacy plan included a:
• sports infrastructure and facilities plan,
• volunteering strategy,
• systematic approach to the delivery of coaching at all levels of sport throughout the UK.
Sir Clive called for support from both sides of the House:
“All-Party support and co-operation was essential in bringing the Games to London and we need a similar level of commitment to ensure the sports legacy is not lost. I would like to see all of us in sport and all political parties coming together to ensure that we achieve a step change in active participation in sport.
“In these difficult economic times I think we are fortunate in having something as positive as London 2012 on the horizon. Nothing can lift the nation’s spirit like sporting success can – let’s ensure we achieve some of the wider benefits too and we can genuinely help to improve the British quality of life.”
Click here to read Colin Moynihan's full speech in the House of Lords.
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