The passing of an icon of the Olympic movement

The passing of Juan Antonio Samaranch today at the age of 89 represents the end of the life of one of the highest profile icons of the Olympic movement.

Whether you're among those who loved and respected the "ends" he achieved or despised and questioned the "means" he used to achieve them, one thing is certain about Samaranch: he made his mark. He is one of the three most dominant Presidents in the history of the International Olympic Committee; on the podium alongside modern founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin -- he of Citius. Altius. Fortius. -- and Avery Brundage.

Without doubt, Samaranch will go down in history as the IOC President who oversaw the greatest period of growth in the history of the Olympic Games.

He took over the helm the year of the boycotted Moscow Games in 1980 and resigned in 2001 the year after the millennium Olympic Games in Sydney. At every level -- number of participating countries, number of athletes, number of events, volume of sponsors, volume of television revenues and hours and volume of media coverage -- the Samaranch Winter Games of Nagano 1998 and the Samaranch Summer Games of Sydney 2000 dwarfed pre-Samaranch Lake Placid 1980 and pre-Samaranch Moscow 1980.

Under his watch, the Olympics were transformed from being the exclusive domain of the world's best so-called amateur athletes to a showcase for the best of the best, including professionals in hockey and basketball.  He oversaw exponential growth in sponsorship and television revenues. And by creating a two-year gap between the Summer Games and Winter Games beginning with Lillehammer 1994, his IOC raised
the profile of the Olympic brand through unprecedented levels of television, media and spectator interest in the years since.

Yet Samaranch was also President during the tit-for-tat boycott of Los Angeles 1984, during the emergence of the doping era of the Games and during the bidding scandal that led to Salt Lake City 2002. The vote-buying exposed a broken-down Olympic city selection process and a corrupt IOC. It exemplified the entitlement culture of the international sport system in general and Samaranch-style leadership in particular.

That will always be the cloud that hangs over the Samaranch IOC. It is also a case study in the downside of political power unchecked by term limits, accountability and proper succession planning.

It is because of Samaranch that the IOC now limits Presidential terms to eight and four for a total of 12 years. If Samaranch had not so brazenly pushed the envelope of his own Presidency well beyond Barcelona 1992 and beyond Atlanta 1996 -- ruling almost as if by personal decree -- he would not have been saddled with such a checkerboard legacy.

Juan Antonio Samaranch left an indelible personal mark on the Olympic movement. No question. He simply stayed too long.


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Being John Furlong: The Podium of Leadership Qualities behind Vancouver 2010

SportBC did a very good deed Wednesday night at the River Rock Resort & Casino, honouring VANOC Chief Executive Officer John Furlong as Sportsman of the Decade for his leadership of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

The decade tag was particularly appropriate, given that Furlong led the largest sports festival in the history of the city and the province from bid phase to organizing committee to the Games themselves -- executive staying power that is atypical among Olympic event management marathons.

Whereas most Olympic host cities go through two or more CEOs -- either through the natural pairing of skill sets with the requisites of different phases of the multi-year campaign, politics associated with the process or sometimes sheer burnout -- Furlong defied early skeptics to go the distance and help make Vancouver 2010 one of the best Winter Games in history.

He did so as the epitome of personal character and professional leadership.

Furlong built his leadership of Vancouver 2010 around a strategic vision, one which he articulated clearly, championed passionately and defended smartly. These were to be Canada's Games. That vision, manifested in the Olympic Torch Relay presented by RBC and Coca-Cola, drove record levels of domestic sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandising and television audiences.

Furlong was Presidential in style, using the royal "we" instead of the self-centered "I". That made him well-respected internally and well-liked externally. It broadened coalitions of support when he needed them most, both domestically and at the level of the International Olympic Committee.

Finally, Furlong showed a remarkable human touch, especially in the way he handled the inevitable challenges he and VANOC faced along the way; none more impressive than how he respectfully managed the tragic training run death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvilli on the day of the Vancouver 2010 opening ceremonies.

That podium of leadership attributes made Furlong a highly-effective front man for the Games. Adhering to strategic vision, consistently deferring to the larger body of staff and volunteers behind him and simply being John Furlong the person gave him significant political capital.

That capital helped keep things together whenever VANOC was particularly challenged, made mistakes or was otherwise subject to the intense public pressure or media criticism that is part of the territory of staging the Olympic showcase.

Even among critics, he was always one of the most reliable and likable things about Vancouver 2010 and VANOC.

Furlong was all about consistency and personal follow-through. In attending a memorial in Kumaritashvilli's home town -- well after the Games had ended -- he brought together the personal and professional characteristics that defined his leadership in particular and the Games in general.

Visionary. Inclusive. Human.

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Vancouver 2010 Scorecard: Top Tens and Bottom Tens of Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympics now in the books and in the conversation with Lillehammer 1994 as among the best in Winter Games history, it's time for our sport business scorecard for the most watched sports event -- and television event -- in Canadian history.

The Top 10s of Vancouver 2010

10. The Richmond Oval as the most impressive new sport venue in Canada since the opening of the Air Canada Centre in 1999 and VANOC's general approach to competition venues - smartly relying on upgrades to BC Place, Pacific Coliseum and General Motors Place/Canada Hockey Place; all completed on time, well in advance of the Games...an unusual feat for Olympic host cities;

9. Family marketing campaign centered around mascot team of Quatchi, Miga, Sumi and MukMuk, which engaged kids and schools in the Winter Games and kick-started strong merchandise sales and branding, smartly backed by the official colour pallette of wintry blues and greens symbolic of Canadian west coast;

8. Event ticket sales, surpassing previous record set in Salt Lake City 2002 (although it was still disappointing to see unfilled sections of IOC family seating at indoor venues, including for otherwise sold out hockey games at Canada Hockey Place);

7. In what amounted to the two single largest global branding opportunities in the history of Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada before worldwide audiences on television, computers and mobile phones, the staging of the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games were solid (despite the mechanical failure of the indoor cauldron February 12th and a slight excess of cheese February 28th);

6. Domestic sponsorship sales which met and exceeded VANOC's $750 million in budget projections, despite impact of global economic recession, with kudos to Executive Vice-President Dave Cobb and his marketing team;

5. A host sport medical platform almost unanimously regarded by athletes and coaches as second to none in Winter Games history, engineered by the likes of VANOC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jack Taunton, Rick Celebrini, Dr. Mike Wilkinson and a team of British Columbian and Canadian leaders in their fields;

4. At 106 days, 45,000 kilometres and coast-to-coast-to-coast coverage, the longest domestic Olympic Torch Relay in history, with kudos to RBC and Coca-Cola for their classy activation around 12,000 torch bearers;

3. Own The Podium for provoking a change in the way we view our athletes and our capacity for success on the world stage, not to mention $110 million in training and technology support for Canadian Olympic team;

2. Vancouver 2010 merchandising and licensing campaign, especially by official retailer HBC and hot sales of Canadian Olympic team apparel, most notably the sea of red created by Hockey Canada's Nike jerseys;

1. John Furlong's strategic vision of Vancouver 2010 as "Canada's Games", a leadership position which rubbed off on Olympic Torch Relay presented by RBC and Coca-Cola, record television ratings, strong domestic sponsorships, provincial agreements, record ticket sales and record levels of Winter Games merchandising, not to mention expressions of patriotism and flag-waving like we've never seen before in Canada.

Bottom 10s of Vancouver 2010:

1. Tragic training run death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvilli on opening day of the Games;

2. Failure of federal, provincial and municipal governments to get their marketing, hospitality and tourism ducks in a row early enough (most notably a missed opportunity to present a fully-aligned and integrated message to visitors, trading partners and investors from around the world - although the weather and televised beauty shots of Vancouver and Whistler more than made up for it);

3. Inability to deliver a direct cash legacy for sport development like that of Calgary 1988, which would have been the ultimate follow-up punch to BC's 2010 Legacies Now and Canada's Own The Podium before the Games (shouldn't the IOC follow through with $22.5 million US or even $30 million US, the amount it fell short on its own worldwide partner budget for Vancouver 2010?);

4. Poorly-conceived fencing plan and poorer communications spin around outdoor cauldron at honourably-named Jack Poole Plaza;

5. Lack of stronger protocols and alignment between VANOC and sliding federations to ensure safer luge, skeleton and bobsleigh track at Whistler;

6. VANOC fueling greater pushback and negativity from international media in opening days of Vancouver 2010 by not more easily acknowledging mistakes and logistical wrinkles;

7. BC Place without the retractable roof that will only come 18 months after Vancouver 2010 and without new video screens and other bells and whistles which might have added even more pizzazz to the opening and closing ceremonies and nightly medal presentations (and further helped justify the province's hefty $563 million tab for the long-overdue stadium renovation);

8. Missed opportunity to "open" the opening ceremonies by creating a staged opportunity for tens of thousands more Canadians, British Columbians and Vancouverites -- unable to afford or otherwise access tickets priced at up to $1,100 a pop -- to witness Wayne Gretzky and a final procession of torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame from BC Place to the outdoor cauldron on opening night February 12th (instead of what came across as an afterthought, with only television audiences watching the Great One scrambling away in a pick up truck to the outdoor lighting at Cole Harbour);

9. Some questionable calls on overseas hires and foreign contracts when highly-touted and capable Canadian talent was ready and willing, in areas such as design, sport operations and, yes, Cirque de Soleil;

10. Community disconnects in the period leading to Vancouver 2010, ranging from misplaced aggression on trademark protection (especially in the early years) and VANOC not making the most of the opportunity to fully engage BC sports stakeholders to the exclusion of the global children's charity Right to Play and the BC government's wrong-headed decision to announce cut backs to the provincial sport system six months before Vancouver 2010 (despite boasting of its commitment to create the healthiest jurisdiction to ever host the Winter Games).

Net score: "Excellent and Friendly Games", with big wins at the international, domestic and local levels, where Vancouver's DNA will forever carry the designation of Olympic and Paralympic city and usher in a new era of sport business opportunities for the Pacific Gateway city.

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