The second part of an exclusive interview with Minister Michael Knight President of the Sydney Organizing Committee for the XXVII Olympic Games
By: Laura Walden
Q) What about the issue of ambush marketing – how is SOCOG going to be working against infringements?
A) Well you can never completely prevent ambush marketing in the city, but we have very strong powers and we certainly can prevent it on the Olympic sites. Also on the Olympic live sites which are the six large gathering places in the city we have very strong regulations that prevent the sale and distribution of things on the street without effectively the permission of the Olympic Coordination Authority.
We control the airspace against people who are trying to ambush. I think it is fair to say that Michael Payne has said that he has never seen a wider protection for the sponsors like what is happening in Sydney. I think that Michael has publicly said on several occasions that it sets new benchmarks for future Olympic Games.
Q) What are some of the extra measures that you’re taking to deal with the transport situation which is always a challenge?
A) We have done two very different things about transport. As you say transport is the biggest challenge that every Olympic city faces. After Atlanta we decided to form a government body, the Olympic Roads and Transport Authority (ORTA), to coordinate all of the ground transport at the time of the Games road, rail, ferry private, public, Olympic, non-Olympic, athlete, spectator, sponsors. All of this is provided and coordinated by the one state government body with very wide powers.
The second thing that we’ve done is that we’ve had a series of test events for ORTA. It seemed a bit strange that you have test events for technology, venues, athletes, but you don’t have them for transport which is the biggest problem. So we’ve had a series of major test events at the main Olympic Park site where ORTA has run its dedicated regional buses onto the site. We have put in a heavy rail station that links into the main Sydney rail network onto the site. We’ve run test events where they’ve carried very large crowds and more a million people over a two week period on three occasions as well as test events with very large crowds in the stadium. So we’ve tried to give them a range of expertise, even though you can never replicate the huge Olympic load until it happens itself. But it is a good form of training.
Q) Personally what has been the most important challenge to overcome for the successful organization of the Games?
A) For me as someone who came from a political background it was to make the step up to being able to run the business side of things. That was the biggest challenge for me. My two predecessors came from the business side and the biggest challenge for them was to make the step up to the political aspects and the reverse has been the same for me.
Q) The Paralympics are receiving a lot of attention in this Olympiad and what are some of the accomplishments you have attained in this field?
A) There is a very close relationship between the Paralympics and the Olympics in Sydney. The same people who are delivering the services to the Paralympians are the same people by and large who are delivering the services to the Olympians. They will stay in the same Village, they will eat in the same dining room, they will get the same food, ORTA will run the transport for the Paralympians just like it will run for the Olympians, the same will be for the spectators. What we want to try and do is have one seamless 60 day festival of sport that begins with the opening of the Village at the beginning of September for the Olympic athletes and ends with the closure of the Village at the end of October for the Paralympians.
Q) What will be the legacy that will be left behind after the Sydney Games?
A) At the sport level we want to leave two legacies. First we want to leave fabulous world class venues. Sydney now has got some of the best venues in the world which we always needed but would have never been able to build in such a short time frame without the impetuous of the Olympics. And we also want to leave a fund which has been set aside and quarantined to prepare Australian athletes for future international competitions. So those are the two sporting legacies.
In a broader national legacy we’d like to leave behind a positive image of Australia and the impression of the country as a modern innovative capable country where our business people and our community can deliver things and can accomplish anything. That is the sort of community legacy that we’d like to leave in a business sense.
To read the first part of the interview please click here
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