(ATR) Thomas Bach visited Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter on Wednesday as he spent his second day in the technology capital.
Social media plays an increasingly prominent role in society, and Bach is seeking new ways for the worlds of sport and technology to work together and complement each other in the future.
"We want to suck the brains of the brain trusts of the different big companies," Bach said in an exclusive interview with Around the Rings earlier this week, "to learn how they see the future, to learn what their vision is and then to see which role sport can and will play in 20-25 – maybe already 10 – years from now."
IOC members Cameil Eurlings from the Netherlands, Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain and Gerardo Wertheim of Argentina are accompanying Bach on his trip to Silicon Valley. They joined him as he donned a headset to try out the Oculus Rift virtual reality system.
A video released by the IOC shows Bach in motion, even recoiling from something he saw in the virtual world and according to the IOC Twitter feed, Bach "loved VR so much he’s asked for it for the Athlete’s Village in #Rio2016… stand by to be amazed."
Bach arrived in Silicon Valley on Tuesday from Los Angeles, where he met with officials of Los Angeles 2024 and toured proposed venues.
He is also meeting with Google, the other Internet giant, start-ups and private equity companies.
On the sponsor front, Bach learned what’s driving research at the Visa Innovation Technology Center and was given a demonstration of VR and 360 cameras at Samsung Research America. He was joined by Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services, and a key figure in the upcoming Olympic Channel.
"We are in discussions with a number of the Worldwide TOP Partners regarding possible support for the Olympic Channel," IOC spokesman Mark Adams told ATR.
"However, this trip isn’t specifically dedicated to the Olympic Channel, it is about seeing what the future holds and the broader possibilities of future cooperation between the worlds of sports and technology."
"After all," Adams added, "we are all in the business of trying to improve people's lives."
While the IOC entourage did not meet with Facebook founderMark Zuckerberg, he has Olympic ties. His sister Randi Zuckerberg, who worked at Facebook before founding her own boutique marketing firm, is a member of the IOC Communications Commission, chaired by Eurlings..
And Zuckerberg’s roommate his freshman year at Harvard, Samyr Laine, competed in the Olympic triple jump for Haiti at the 2012 London Games. Laine was the 14th person to join the social network.
Written by Karen Rosen
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