It's great to see Qatar's understanding and passion for sports: Coe

By Satya Rath/Doha

Lord Sebastian Coe has donned many hats and excelled in all. He’s been an athlete, a parliamentarian, an administrator and organiser, and has done justice to all roles. Having set 12 world records during his career, Coe retired from competitive athletics in 1990 and became a Conservative MP.

He was Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, having previously been chairman of the London 2012 bid company. Coe is also a Vice-President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and was recently elected Chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA).

Coe was in Doha for the just-concluded Diamond League meeting. In an exclusive interview with the Gulf Times, the current Executive Chairman of CSM Sport and Entertainment — whose clients include Qatar Foundation, Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and Qatar Stars League — touched upon many things, including the current and future sporting landscape of Qatar. Excerpts: 

You have been coming to Qatar on and off since 2002. How have you visualised the change?

Oh, the changes have been extraordinary… The landscape has changed. There have been social changes… When I first came here some 10-11 years back, the streets were mostly empty. There were hardly many people around. Then, gradually, I began witnessing the transformation. And believe me, it has been quite fast. When my plane landed in Doha last weekend, it was around 5.30 in the morning. And I was pleasantly surprised while on my way to the hotel. The Corniche was teeming with people — walking, running, exercising on the machines. The changes have been massive.

What’s the main thing about this country you admire?

I think the biggest thing about Qatar, and many countries can learn from it, has been its understanding and passion for sports. The country has harnessed the extraordinary power of sports to help in nation-building; it has used sports to create an environment where health and activity are encouraged.

I found it quite unique to see a National Sports Day being observed here. Qatar has an Olympic programme in schools. Very few countries do that. I think one reason behind its economic prosperity and its transformation into a global country is because of its understanding of sports. For me that’s a great thing. It always feels good to be in a country that understands sports.

There have been concerns that Qatar’s infrastructure is not yet ready to host big-ticket events, like the football World Cup or the Olympics…

See, we can no longer have a world where big events are staged only in a few countries. We have to extend the frontiers of sports; it has to have a global reach and presence. That’s really important. If you want your youth to play sports, they must get a chance to see and witness some great sporting events. We can’t just have a situation where just 15 or 20 cities in the world are always going to have that opportunity; we must spread that opportunity. And yes, sometimes, in spreading that opportunity, there are challenges. But the great thing about sport is that it can play a big role in that process, in bringing about a social change. I can already see that happening here.

Can you elaborate...

Let me explain. In 1980, I went to an Olympic Games in Moscow, and I liked the thing that I was at the infancy of social change there. Four years later (1984), I went to Los Angeles and it was a very different type of Games. Sports has consistently helped usher in social changes.

So, I am very pleased that the World Cup is coming here. I am very pleased that Qatar continues to host and bid for big sporting events in this region. And I am very pleased that young people in this region would be getting the opportunity to watch top-class footballers, athletes, tennis players, golfers, motorsports… It’s very important that young people see those role models, and in the next generation we want those young people to become role models themselves. And that can only happen if you encourage more and more countries to bid for big sporting events.

You have been a witness to the continuing evolution of the Olympic Movement…

Yeah, the changes have been massive. The 1980 Games in Moscow were the first-ever Communist Games. The 1984 Games in Los Angeles were so different… Remember those 81 grand white pianos playing at the opening ceremony? Remember the rocket man? Next we went to Seoul. That was a time when many countries didn’t even know about South Korea. Beijing 2008 was all about China.

In London, we had 10,500 athletes, 11 million tickets… The social media now plays a big role in the success and popularity of an event, and it has changed the Olympics as well. In London, we took the help of social media to communicate with people. The Olympic Movement is changing fast…

We will now see countries from the emerging world staging the Games. Twenty years back, if I or you had said that Brazil would one day host the Olympic Games, people would have laughed us off. And now, many more countries, like Qatar, have the confidence and knowledge the stage big events. The world is changing…

What, according to you, were the main reasons behind the success of London Games?

It was a very close competition. We only won by four votes, but I think we managed to convince the International Olympic Committee about our commitment to legacy.

We used sports to change the nature of a very core community in London. The areas that we developed for the Olympic Park in East London had very high levels of unemployment, low education and economic ambitions.

The area was not developed unlike other parts of London. There was lawlessness too. We used sports to change that landscape. Today, people there have new homes, a school, a hospital, sports venues… And we have created about six or seven billion pounds worth of contracts, new businesses, new projects… That was the way we explained what we would do and wanted to do with sports.

It’s much like Qatar, which has explained that sports is just not about high level competition; it is also a great opportunity to usher in a sustainable and lasting social change.

How would you compare your joy and excitement after winning your first medal, with that of staging a successful Olympic Games?

The overwhelming emotion was relief in both cases. Relief that you have competed well and that you haven’t let down your family, your coaches, your people… It is very similar when you are leading a project like the Games.

The way an athlete doesn’t want to let down his coaches or his family, the event organiser too doesn’t want to let his country down. The world is watching you; you want your countrymen to feel proud about the work of your team. So when you deliver what was assigned to you successfully, you feel relieved. When you win an Olympic medal you are relieved; when you deliver a successful Games you are relieved.

How did you plan a legacy for the London Games?

For anything to be successful, you need to plan in advance. Similar is the case with legacy — it is something for which you have to plan beforehand; legacy is not something that you can think about after the event. In London, right at the very outset, we created a bid that had legacy as its most important component. So, we designed stadiums that had legacy, and we followed some very simple principles.

If you don’t have a venue, but have a demand for that, then build a permanent venue. If you can use an existing venue, use existing venues. If you haven’t got an existing venue, but there is no demand for a permanent venue after the Games, then build a temporary venue.

So we built a temporary basketball venue; we built a temporary water polo complex; we built a temporary hockey facility. You cannot leave things behind that the local community is unable to use. It’s bad for sports, it’s bad for the organizing committee, and it’s bad for FIFA or the IOC or the IAAF.

Do you think Qatar can do something similar if they win the Olympics bid?

I have spoken to the Qatar Olympic Committee and officials from other sports federations here and that’s the way they have been planning to build the venues— some permanent, some temporary, use the existing facilities in some cases. That’s very creative thinking indeed.

See, we are lucky to live in a creative world where everything is possible. We should no more think that big events can happen only in big cities. As I said before, twenty years back had we said that Rio would be staging an Olympics or that South Africa would be staging a football World Cup, people would have scoffed at the suggestion! Back then, who would have thought that the landscape of world sports would undergo such a sea change?

Will it ever be possible to deliver a dope-free Olympics?

See, we have to be realistic. It’s probably never going to happen. But the positive side is that, things are improving — the IOC has a zero tolerance policy for dope cheats, the punishments are getting tougher, the national associations are getting more sophisticated, we now have blood passports, we can now go back to look at the file of an athlete, we can store and retest their samples.

We have closed the gap, but we are also dealing with human nature here, and the nature of human nature is such that there are always going to be people who will opt for something beyond moral means. We have to educate the athletes, we have to tell them you don’t need to have a better set of chemists to win, for sports is more than just winning and losing. Yes, it’s a much better landscape now. We have to keep closing the gap and be permanently vigilant. We have to be very aware that this is a battle we cannot lose…

Were you shocked by Lance Armstrong’s revelations?

It was very distressing, because he had been a role model for many. Such people have to remember that their actions are watched by millions and millions of people worldwide. But like I said, we are dealing with human nature here.

Middle-distance running is losing out to sprint in terms of glamour and popularity. Being a middle-distance runner, don’t you feel concerned about it?

No, I think middle-distance running is still very powerful. True, the sprint events appeal to the masses; it’s like the Muhammad Ali of track-and-field, names like Usain Bolt…

But don’t forget David Rudisha (800m runner from Kenya). His performance in London, I think, was the best at the Olympics. Even at the Diamond League the other day, you saw how the crowd reacted to his win. He drew the biggest cheers. Middle-distance running will always have its own unique place.