Lillehammer 2016 Leadership, "DNA" Take Shape

(ATR) Leaders of Lillehammer 2016 tellAround the Rings the Youth Olympic Games are not only a 10-day event but also the crux of a 10-year plan to put youth sport front and center in Norway's national agenda.

ATR spoke with chairwoman Siri Hatlen and managing directorAtle Roll-Matthiesen a day after they updated the IOC Session in London on preparations for the YOG.

Around the Rings: What sort of feedback did you get from the IOC Session, if any?

Siri Hatlen: In general, it was just "thank you for the presentation".

Angela Ruggiero, who’s leading the Coordination Commission, also reported after our presentation.

ATR: What did she have to say?

SH: She was reporting that it was her impression that our work has started up in a good way, and she was pleased with the team that we’ve got in place. The important thing was she emphasized that we had a good understanding of the vision and idea of the YOG and that we were well-prepared to handle these Games in 2016.

Atle Roll-Matthiesen: We got very positive support from her and her team.

ATR: Has she been out to Lillehammer yet?

SH: Yes, she was there in June.

Actually, we were so lucky that she came with some of the members from the Commission and also President Jacques Rogge, who was in Lillehammer for three days spending time with us and looking at the venues.

Also, several members from the Coordination Commission came together with a team from Innsbruck for the first city-to-city debrief.

ARM: We find it very inspiring that President Rogge, several IOC members and also Angela Ruggiero are spending so much time with us. It’s very very inspiring.

ATR: It’s been eight months since you were awarded hosting rights. How much of the organizing committee has taken shape so far?

SH: The board of the organizing committee was appointed this spring. It’s a very active board, meeting monthly. And the most important task that the board has organized so far is to get into place the four top executives, including Mr. Roll-Matthiesen.

ARM: We have a very experienced and highly competent board, which is really a strength for this project.

ATR: How much of an observer program was in place for the Innsbruck YOG?

SH: From the organizing committee, I was in Innsbruck for the last weekend, and also Mr. Gerhard Heiberg is on the board, and of course, he was in Innsbruck.

The organizing committee was not in place early enough to go to Innsbruck, but there were several people from the Norwegian Olympic Committee in place.

As we mentioned, the team from Innsbruck came to Lillehammer in June for the city-to-city debrief. We’ll have a close cooperation with the Innsbruck people also in the times to come.

ARM: Actually, I have an appointment to speak with Peter Bayer, and he will be a very important source for us to speak more with Innsbruck. We are very impressed with the job and the results that were made in Innsbruck. We will have close cooperation and communication with them in the future.

ATR: What was your takeaway from the weekend you spent at the Innsbruck YOG? What are you going to try and change, and what will you definitely do the same?

SH: It’s far too early to say something about what we will do differently. I think the main takeaway is it was very good to be there myself to see the whole atmosphere, both when it comes to the athletes, not only in the venues but also in the social places with the Culture & Education Program – how it was in reality.

Also, it was very impressive to watch all the volunteers, how young they are and how clever they are. I think it shows so clearly that this is something very different from the ordinary Olympic Games, so it was great to be there just to get a touch of the atmosphere and the spirit.

What is important is that we will take the opportunity to learn as much as we can from the Innsbruck planning and execution, but at the same time, it’s so important that each Games are something special and we want the Lillehammer Games to have its own DNA, as we say, and that’s the work that has just started.

There is quite a lot said already in our application for the Games. When it comes to what will be some of the focus areas for Lillehammer, that’s about environment and sustainability and it’s about the work related to peace and reconciliation. These will be special focus areas in the CEP.

ATR: I know you’re building a new Youth Olympic Village near Birkebeiner ski stadium. Are there any other venues that are being built, or are they all from 1994?

ARM: Actually, President Rogge and our minister of culture officially opened our new curling venue on June 19.

ATR: What’s your focus at this stage, still four years out from the Games? What’s most important?

SH: I think we are still in the phase of establishing our organization. As I said, we have four executives in place, and they are now moving into their offices at Lillehammer 2016.

The focus in the coming months is more recruitment to get the core team into place, to get more detailed plans and strategies, and to interact with stakeholders locally, regionally and nationally, so there’s a lot of work ahead.

We are in a very early stage, but also what is very clear is that we have very high ambitions for these Games, so we have to work on that. And also one issue that has been very important is this Olympic legacy, how to establish something coming out of these Games that also is of value for the future.

ATR: A total of 154 Youth Olympians from Singapore 2010 competed at London 2012. Is that sort of jump realistic for winter sports? Would you hope to see some athletes from Lillehammer 2016 competing at PyeongChang 2018?

SH: I’m not sure that’s the most important thing, actually.

ARM: Of course, that’s something we think is very nice, but that isn’t the main goal, actually. Maybe it is for the Norwegian Olympic Committee, but I don’t think so. We want to use this event also to strengthen the national work. All the different stakeholders and organizations in Norway want to focus on youth for the next 10-year period, so we have to put it in this framework. It will be important to see it in a big picture.

SH: Just to follow up on that because that was one of the main messages we had to the IOC Session, that we look upon this as both a 10-day event in 2016, but it’s also integrated with thinking long-term about youth sports in particular. That’s priority number one for the Norwegian Olympic Committee is youth sports, and that’s very good for the Norwegian politicians.

ARM: It has very strong support from the government and from Parliament.

SH: A report delivered from the minister of culture and transport in June emphasized the same, that youth sport is priority number one, which means that there is extremely strong support for the idea, not only having these Games and making that a great event, but also building – using that opportunity to build and educate not only the athletes but young leaders, coaches, young volunteers, etc. and to see that in a long-term perspective.

Coming back to the YOG Village in Lillehammer, this is being constructed. I think that work is just about to start now in a short time, which will be a place not only for students and high-school pupils but also as a center for youth sports in the future. That’s the ambition to establish this center in Lillehammer that’s part of the Olympic legacy.

ARM: It’s very important, actually, to recruit young leaders, future leaders, new coaches, and also to try to engage a new generation of volunteers.

ATR: What is the latest with the 2022 Winter Games? Oslo is going to bid, correct?

SH: We are not involved with that. That is a separate organization.

ATR: Do you think it’s realistic for Norway to also get the Winter Olympics six years after hosting the YOG?

SH: I’ll say it this way. Our focus is to do a very good job with the 2016 Games. I think what’s important is that we are known to be good organizers of Olympic Games, looking back to the 1994 Games, and our focus will be on 2016.

We’ll focus on doing as good a job as possible, and it will then be for the IOC to take a decision on who shall host the Games in 2022.

ATR: Anything else I should be asking, or anything else you wanted to tell me?

SH: For all of us being involved with the Youth Olympic Games, I think the idea itself of the YOG integrating sports, culture and education is so important, not only for the YOG but also for the further development of the work of the IOC. It’s kind of going back to the original values of the Olympics, and it’s a way of modernizing and innovating the whole idea of the Olympics.

It’s such a great opportunity, having the responsibility to work with this is really being a part of creating the future Olympic Games. I’m very grateful to the IOC for giving us the opportunity, but also I think it’s important to underline that we fully support the vision and the ideas behind establishing the YOG with this much broader perspective, and that fits really well with the way we want to work with youth sports in Norway.

ARM: It’s something much more than a competition. The flexibility and possibility to use all venues is also important in a big perspective.

SH: Actually, I think it’s getting more and more important that we develop and educate the young athletes rather than just the sport itself, to develop them also as human beings for life after active sports.

Interview conducted in London by Matthew Grayson.

20 Years at #1: