I was invited to write a short guest column on my ideas for a re-imagined Olympic Games for OpenCanada.org, a publication of the Canadian International Council, the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History.
You’ll find it here at OpenCanada.org. I would love to learn what people think of my idea for The Athlete Games (TAG), designed to put sport in the hands of athletes for the benefit of real excellence in sport.
In case the link isn’t working, the article follows below:
The Olympics Reimagined
The Athlete Games (TAG), launched in 2020 in response to the collapse of the house of cards that was the IOC, is an international festival of sport managed by and for athletes.
Who better to keep the flame alive than those who devote their lives to the magic of movement?
As guardians of true sport, athletes will not confuse political and business imperatives with the integrity and power of sport.
The Athlete Games Committee is comprised of athletes and high performance coaches who will be eligible for election within 12 years of retirement, for a maximum of two, four-year terms. The Athlete Games will be hosted in a permanent location. They will run annually, with a rotating sport calendar – summer outdoor, winter outdoor, indigenous sports, and indoor sports. Athletes will compete for their countries. Small countries will be permitted to group together as a region.
Corporate and national funds contributed will be pooled and distributed to enable the host location, athletes, coaches and countries to compete, including TAG contributions to local sport infrastructure. Concurrently, Youth Athlete Games will be organized for children and youth to participate in locations around the world. The local and international variants will be connected virtually. Teams will honour diversity. Sports will be encouraged to break free of gender divisions to enable competition to be organized by weight, age and other categories, including those now represented in the Paralympic movement. Excellence is the goal, true excellence, unrestricted by false limitations on competition.
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