Birmingham (United Kingdom) (AFP) – The London Olympics in 2012 are widely credited with being one of the best prepared and managed Summer Games in recent history, and their organiser Sebastian Coe is urging LA28 organisers to work as closely with government as he did. Coe, the man who delivered the London Games as head of the local organising committee, says the organisers of the Los Angeles Olympics in two years’ time will have to accept working shoulder-to-shoulder with the US administration.
“I know it’s really important that you have really good working relationships with government, prime ministers,” said Coe, who is now head of track and field’s governing body World Athletics. The United States have just co-hosted the Football World Cup, but there were concerns raised throughout the tournament over the relationship between US President Donald Trump and FIFA head Gianni Infantino. Infantino, a Swiss-Italian who has led FIFA since 2016, was a frequent visitor to the White House in the buildup to the World Cup.
Related news
Last year he awarded Trump a newly-created and much-mocked FIFA peace prize, which he presented to the president at the World Cup draw in Washington. Infantino was then forced into defending the decision to reprieve US World Cup star Folarin Balogun after Trump said he had appealed directly to the head of world football’s governing body over the issue. Balogun, the US team’s outstanding player at the World Cup, had been set to miss the last-16 game against Belgium after receiving a red card in the victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the previous round.
But FIFA said it was suspending the card, allowing Balogun to play against Belgium, sparking a furore. Trump said he had called Infantino “because I didn’t think it was a foul”. President Trump will still be in power by the time of the LA Games in July 2028.
Coe told journalists at the European championships on Thursday that the local organising committee of the LA Olympics had to strike a balance with the US government. “The delivery of the Games is in large part predicated on those relationships with Treasury, Defense, Homeland Security,” Coe said of the relevant government ministries in the US. “Actually the best mitigation against risk at a Games is the relationships that you have politically, and I mean with a small ‘P’, in the system.”
No local organising committee can make the Games safe. That is done with a combination of intelligence services. External interference, Coe argued, comes “entirely down to the resilience of a sporting organisation to say, ‘Yeah, I hear what you say, but thank you and good night’.” The balance is keeping the politicians on the bus, but not letting them anywhere near the steering wheel. “I probably achieved that quite well in London,” Coe added. “That’s entirely about the resilience and robust nature of your sport. But not having those relationships is dangerous.”
Former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry beat Coe in last year’s election to succeed Thomas Bach as the new president of the International Olympic Committee. On taking over as Olympic chief, Coventry was asked about the prospect of dealing with President Trump. “I have been dealing with let’s say difficult men in high positions since I was 20 years old,” she answered.
More recently, Coventry expressed confidence that the Los Angeles Olympics organisers and IOC would be able to overcome a number of the challenges that shook the World Cup, notably visa issues. That, she said, took “consistent collaboration and learning.” “We have to just continue having faith in that process. And I do believe that we will see a successful LA 2028.”
© 2024 AFP
