Lord Moynihan - Chairman, British Olympic Association HARDtalk

give Mrs Johnson and asked which. Now it's time for HARDtalk. The

London 2012 Olympics has been applauded at home and abroad as a

huge success in terms of organisation and medals for the

host nation. My guest today, Lord Moynihan, is chairman of the

British Olympic Association and director of the London organising

committee of the Olympic Games. His legacy was at the heart of London's

bid to host the Games. What is being done to show that Britain has

more than medals to show for its Lord Moynihan, welcome to HARDtalk.

Thank you. Britain's coalition government promised that Britain's

Olympics would put the 'Great' back into Great Britain. They have been

described as a golden Games. Were they? All of the organisers played

their part. The organisers put on a great Games for the athletes. Team

GB performed and excelled and exceeded my expectations. It was a

truly great Games. You have announced your resignation. You

will stand down after an election in November. Why step down when

feeling is so good? I came in to travel the path to London 2012.

That meant focusing on Beijing and, from Beijing, up to London 2012. I

want to give my successor a chance to work towards the Winter Olympic

Games. That's just 18 months away. Then, on to Rio. It is in the best

interests of the organisation. They need to get to know the organising

committee. That will be in Russia for the Winter Olympics. When you

step down, everyone will look at the 2012 games. They have been

successful but there have been some glitches along the way. Some quite

embarrassing ones. G4S, the private security firm that was supposed to

take care of security on the ground announced they could not come up

with the 10,500 security personnel they were supposed to. That was

quite embarrassing. David Winnick said it was a humiliating shambles.

It was. There was no problem with regard to security around the

venues. LOCOG had security in place. It was clear we had to increase

numbers. We hoped G4S would meet the challenge of the second

contract. It was not possible, at the end of the day. Then, the army,

thanks to Philip Hammond, the Secretary for Defence, stepped in.

The situation was rectified but it was embarrassing. You had Mitt

Romney talking about disconcerting signs, about preparations for the

Games. Not the type of headlines you want. If you are Mitt Romney,

it is best to make an error when you are abroad. He was wrong about

his expectations. It was an outstanding Games. The armed forces

came and they played their part. It provided an opportunity for the

British public to say thank you to them in a way they cannot usually

do. You must have been disappointed. We cannot say enough how much of

the security concern there was. One day after we won the bid, there was

a terrorist attack. I was involved since it first competed. You have

over 20,000 journalists turning up just before the Games. They are

focusing on every potential problem they can find. When you look at the

difficulties from Beijing, the focus of human rights, when you go

to Athens, all the press focus about whether the stadium would be

ready, we faced one issue - one important issue - which was

rectified. That issue, in my view, in the totality of the preparation,

made the rest of the problems look small by comparison. There was a

problem with seating and ticketing. London 2012 promised to be

different from previous games which have had issues. You said you would

have pounds sitting at the front. There was meant to be no empty

seats but there were. There were two elements to ticketing.

ticketing challenge in my view should now be taken over and led by

the IOC. Every time we have an Olympic Games, a new organising

committee starts from scratch with the ticketing. It's a massive

challenge. You have 26 World Championships going on at the same

time. You have uncertainty about which athletes will allow their

family to come and watch them. Will it take up that opportunity? It is

hugely complex. My view, which is clearly stated, is that this is a

subject into which the IOC should invest millions of pounds to get

the platform right. Each host city should build and improve. After a

few Games, we would have a state- of-the-art ticketing system. In the

meantime, the London 2012 Paralympics are coming up. Can you

guarantee there will be no empty seats? I cannot guarantee that. I

can guarantee that we will work exceptionally hard to make sure we

sell more tickets than ever before. I will give you one example. We

sold more tickets in football, women's football, than any other

host nation ever has done. The British public deserve the right to

buy those seats. We wanted to fill those seats. I addressed this issue

as chairman of the BOA. We needed to fill the seats to back Team GB.

We needed to fill the seats because the public are passionate about

sport. They must have the opportunity to go to the Olympic

Games and the Paralympic Games. When people were in their seats,

the press took every opportunity to take pictures of them tucking into

fast food. A lot of controversy about Coca-Cola and McDonald's

being sponsors. We have got a children's charity, the children's

food campaign, saying it was a valuable chance to create a

positive health legacy and it was squandered. Was it? I do not think

it was. The committee who choose the top sponsors, and you mentioned

two of them, they are not chosen by international individual Olympic

committees. They helped us to invest in opportunities for eating

healthier food, having greater opportunities to participate,

getting more schools into sport. well. I think McDonald's have

changed the quality of their food significantly. It's in response to

such questions. They have responded to people putting emphasis on them

to improve the content of their food so that it is much more in

line with the IOC's image. It was not the only fast food chain that

was part of the official sponsors. There were chocolate and beer

companies. Jacques Rogge said the bottom line was to support

individual committees and federations or they would be in

trouble. What does that mean? No fast food sponsors, no Olympics?

has to make sure that sponsorship comes in at the top level. Through

the investment that they make back out to the international committees,

we can see the opportunity given to a lot of small countries to be able

to fund the athletes that come to the Games. My whole life in sport

has been about the athletes. If that can flow back to communities

and give young athletes the chance to come to the Games and have the

experience of a lifetime, I am absolutely comfortable with that.

You had a nation who wanted to share in the joy of the Games. When

local shops wanted to show the Olympic brand, the five rings, they

were told to take him down. Do you think that the IOC controls the

brand too tightly? I think there have been examples during the Games

when there was a bit of an over- zealous response to protect the

brand. There is a balance that needs to be struck between

recognising that the brand must be protected to maximise income to the

organisation and, on the other hand, not applying a dampener to the fact

that people are really engaged and inspired. They do not want to worry

too much about whether or not a fish-and-chip shop has Olympic

rings. That is a bit over-zealous to me. So Jacques Rogge, the

current President of the IOC, he is about to step down after 12 years

in that job. When you look at the IOC as an organisation, do you

think it is fit and healthy for the 21st century? It has had an amazing

Games. What is its job? To deliver an Olympic Games for the world to

come together every four years. These were a stunning Games. They

were superbly organised. The relationship between the organising

committee and the IOC was close, professional and effective. The IOC

have left these shores thinking it was an extraordinary Games that

touched millions of people over the world through television and

inspired a generation and was worthy of all the hard work that

they put in. I think they will be change necessary for the future?

organisation. I think the IOC will look at the Games and see what they

can learn from them. Speaking personally, I think some of the

things were not necessary. May be like sports administration. You

need to have support for athletes. Should the organisation itself be

more accountable? I am a passionate democrat. I always have been. I

voted in favour of reform of the House of Lords to make it more

accountable. The difference between the House of Lords and the IOC is

the House of Lords is a revising chamber. The IOC runs the Olympic

world. I believe that over time it will become more accountable. Its

membership should not be appointed for life, as some of them are. All

the membership should be accountable, either to the

international federations or to the athletes or to the National Olympic

Committee. Over time, I anticipate that will happen. Nobody can deny

it was a great Games this time round. One of the key points of the

London 2012 bid was about legacy. It was about inspiring a generation.

You could not go round the venues without seeing that written

everywhere. The 68 medals that Britain won, is that enough to

inspire a generation? medallists are important. Every

time someone sees the medal - gold, silver, bronze, that changes the

life of the people around them. Massively inspirational. For me,

being chairman, it is about helping the athletes to do personal bests.

If they did that, they would have a phenomenal Games for Team GB. We

wanted a genuine sports legacy. We wanted to raise the bar for able-

bodied and disabled kids across the country. We have got a long way to

You criticised the current government and the previous

government in the middle of the Games. That is the best time to get

a message across. It was important to get that message across. The

Government has been treading water in this area. We need to have

complete focus on teacher-training, and primary school sport and the

quality of that. We have to check that the provision of school sport

is of a high standard. The community will be more engaged. I

am passionate about sport. I believe there should be a huge

legacy and we should raise the bar for everyone in this country.

the coalition going in the right direction? The government has cut a

directive by the previous government to ensure at least two

hours of sport are played in a school every single week. Michael

Gove has re Gove has reanges to the guidelines on playing fields

to sell them. Is that the right way forward? The prime minister made an

secured before Rio. The athletes support my fight. It is a huge step

forward. The Prime Minister said primary schools will be the centre

of competitive sports. That announcement needs to be followed

up. That is an important step forward. Sebastian Coe would be an

ambassador, he said. I have known him since we went to our first

Games in 1980. He will not sit back and allow this to disappear. The

announcement shows there is a potential for change. The work has

only just begun. I will be doing everything I can to make this into

real concrete changes. At the moment, there are mixed messages.

You mentioned some things David Cameron has promised. On the other

hand, Michael Gove is saying things that is completely contradictory.

spoke to Michael Gove during the Games as much as I spoke with the

Prime Minister. He is absolutely aware that we need to capture that

extraordinary power of sport. And that we need to transform it into

policies that will benefit able- bodied and disabled children across

this country. It will not happen in the narrow window of the Olympics

and the Paralympics. It will be higher up in the agenda then it has

ever been in this country. Do we need to improve organisation?

Keith Mills said there were some great organisations doing some

great work but they are not connected and the government is not

connected. There is no national strategy. He has his finger on the

pulse when it comes to acronyms in the world of sports administration.

We need to empower the clubs, the schools, local communities, parents

spoken about the big society. This is the classic example of how the

big society can be put into practice. We need policies that

focus on giving young people, everybody, the opportunity to

participate. The word empowerment... Sir Keith Mills is right, we need

to start to build a new sports policy. Let's have a look at

women's sports. A female cyclist has won the medal in that sport for

the first time. She has used that platform to talk about sexism and

media coverage and salary. That is the first thing that captured the

headlines. And what was the outcome? It was a massive

demonstration of girl power. The women of Team GB absolutely

excelled. Our first gold medal in rowing was a pair of women. Three

medals out of four in rowing which has has traditionally been male-

dominated... No-one is questioning girl power. Women only got 0.5% of

sponsorship. And 5% of TV coverage in January 2010 and August, 2011.

Social media is on a different path. The female World Cup was the most

tweeted event in 2011. No-one can look at these Games or any other

sport and say the women do not absolutely perform and they deserve

to have huge support. I would go further than that. Every sports

organisation should look at increasing the number of women who

are involved in senior positions, medal positions and junior

positions. We need to embed the role of women in sports

administration to a far greater degree than before. It used to be

very male dominated. That means change. The athletes' message is

that they want the change. I am very supportive of that. There was

a big push to send women for the London 2012 Olympics. Then comes

the question of tokenism. Like the Saudi Arabian female athlete.

focus from all the groups around the world is to change their

policies an policies ansome of the outstanding women athletes to be

representatives of their country, it was a very welcomed focus. The

very fact of that debate was very much in the press of the Games and

it was welcomed. It was a stepping- stone towards the overall goal to

make sure there is equality in the sport. There were some very

sensitive issues associated were some Islamic countries on the

subject. They did respond and that is a plus. Overall, the fact that

women are so much in the heart, in comparison to the 1908 where only

two events had women participating, through to 1948 when we took a step

forward. This Games has changed the face of sport. 80,000 people turned

up to watch women's football. you there? I was not. I wish I had

been. These were successful Games. These are also expensive Games. The

original bid was said to be over �4 billion. It looks like at least

double that was actually spent. Is the feel-good factor worth it in

these times of austerity when services are being cut? The answer

is unquestionably yes. And for one massive reason. Over the 9.3

billion that was spent, overwhelmingly the main amount of

the money was in regenerating the poorest areas. It improved

infrastructure, housing, facilities. A green lung in the East End of

London. It was a very deprived and polluted area. If sport can be the

catalyst for urban regeneration, that is money well spent. Not just

for the community but for generations to follow. As of

November, you will be free of the shackles of the British Olympic

Association, where will we see you next? The House of Lords? For the

rest of my life, I will be fighting the cause on behalf of the athletes.

That has been a passion all my life. It has been a huge privilege. I

will speak openly, and publically, and as persuasively as I can to

make sure we really raise the bar and leave a serious sports legacy

for these Games. What advice do you have for Rio? Make it your own

Games. Learn the lessons from the past. The one lesson I will give

them, that we did in London, was reflect the Cosmoplitan nature of

your city. Don't try and improve on Beijing. Or on London. We did not.

We focused on London. They said they were intimidated by London.

They should not be. Rio will be a fantastic Games. As long as they

focus on what is great about Rio and Brazil and reflect that in

their Games. And use the volunteers. The volunteers have made the Games.

70,000 people. 70,000 people just went the extra yard to make this a

great Games for all our visitors and the athletes. If they can