Q&A with Indonesia Olympic Leader Rita Subowo

Anthony Stavrinos, ATR (AS): In your assessment, were the first Asian Beach Games in Bali successful?

Rita Subowo (RS): I heard from everybody that they're so happy and it was successful, although it is always difficult to organize an event for the first time.

But we had the support of everybody from the (Indonesian) government, from BABGOC, OCA, IOC and all the NOCs. I think that these Games went well and like our motto, we are going to Inspire The World."

AS: Speaking in your role as the head of a NOC under the OCA, which is trying to develop the Asian Beach Games, has there been anything you would like to change or improve for the future?

RS: Yes, of course. We are going to make evaluations and then afterwards we are going to inform everybody so that the future organizers will improve (the ABG).

The first Asian Beach Games proved that sport can collaborate with cultures, education and tourism and also it's good for the youth, they took part in these Games.

AS: The Indonesian Government announced $5 million in funding about a week before the start of the event. That must be difficult for an organizer of such a large event, to be able to plan and execute that plan. How difficult was that for you?

RS: I think it was okay. It was just a matter of (satisfying) all the regulations and everything. We always had a back-up (plan). We would like to thank the government and the sponsors for being a part of the Games. Thank you.

AS: You said there is going to be a review at some stage. What kind of things do you think will come out of that review?

RS: The IOC president (Jacques Rogge) said that from these Games, he felt the enthusiasm from all the volunteers and the youth involved and you can see that all 45 NOCs took part (44 NOCs + Macau) and so we are looking forward to our second (Asian Beach) Games in Oman.

AS: Indonesia performed very well at these Games. How important is that performance with regard to the morale of Indonesian athletes at the Olympic Games?

RS: I think this is an example that if you plan and you train long before the Games, you will have the benefits. Also, as a host we took advantage of all the information (local knowledge) and support from everybody.

I think the most important thing now is that all (parties), including the government and the youth, they understand the Olympic Movement and that sport is not all about medals.

The important thing is to take part in this Olympic movement.

And thank you to the OCA for trusting us to host these first Asian Beach Games and we feel can fulfill our job with hard work, to honor our country.

AS: Do you think that young people in this country will be inspired by the achievements of Indonesian athletes at the Games and want to be involved more in sport?

RS: Yes, I think so. You know our ranking in the world (will benefit). For example, we only got five medals in the Olympic Games from 24 athletes, in seven sports. And we are number four in Southeast Asia.

Now with the (ABG) achievements, we are promoting optimism to our sporting community; that we can win, that we have the potential, we can do it.

AS: There didn't seem to be a lot of people buying tickets and attending the events, what was the reason for that?

RS: The tickets were limited by the number of seats for some popular sports. When we saw that there were not much spectators, we gave out tickets for free.

The tickets were only distributed to limit the number of available seats, because we wouldn't have been able to accommodate everybody at the same time because the venues were temporary.

AS: Was it difficult holding an event like this during troubled financial times around the world?

RS: Yes of course, yes of course. But we are lucky that our government understood the situation and they took part in our fundraising and also asked all the companies to sponsor us.

As you know, always the first Games are very difficult in the marketing area. No sponsor wanted to come with us, they wanted to wait and see because they didn't know what Asian Beach Games are.

In the end, the sponsors that joined us like Indosat, it helped us a lot.

AS: Given it was the first Asian Beach Games, should the OCA have contributed some money towards it?

RS: The OCA helped us a lot, in terms of advice that we got from them and then also they assisted and supported us with all the mechanisms involved at organizing (Games) at this Asian level because the last time we hosted Asian Games was in 1962, 46 years ago, so it's difficult for us.

AS: As the head of the Indonesian NOC, do you want to bring more large-scale sports events to your country?

RS: Yes, we are going to organize the Southeast Asian Games in 2011, which is only 11 countries and also, we would like to organize the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2013.

Written by Anthony Stavrinos