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CHAPTER 1
Building Values
Impossible Moments
âImpossible Moments, our new original seriesâŚfeatures some of the most breathtaking, inspiring and unforgettable stories from the Olympic Winter Gamesâwhere the impossible happens.â This promotion for the newest series on the Olympic Channel in 2018 highlights the spirit of the worldâs premier sporting event, the Olympic Games.
The modern Olympics has recorded a series of impossible moments. Some amaze, some inspire. In its entirety, the 125-year history of the modern Olympics has shown the world how to achieve new records and overcome old challenges.
Dutch road cycling racer Annemiek van Vleuten suffered a concussion and three cracks in her spine following a crash at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics womenâs road race. The injuries landed the 33-year-old in intensive care. One year later, van Vleuten won the UCI world champion title in the same event and won again in 2018. She continued to compete to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The strength that she had built through two decades of training and the dedication she shared with many fellow Olympians enabled a spectacular recovery.
At the time of van Vleutenâs tragic injury, the Olympics faced many challenges on its own course to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Several of the international sports federations which manage Olympic qualifying events faced complex financial scandals which distracted from quality sports event management. The Olympicsâ âZero Toleranceâ policy against drug-based cheating in sports appeared almost unachievable as over 300 Olympic athletes were disciplined and medals were reallocated in a process that severely tested the ideals of the Olympic Movement.
At the same time, the Rio 2016 Olympics wrestled with a weak local economy and the dramatic impeachment of Brazilâs former president. These issues made its ultimate success in presenting a traditional Olympics seem almost like a miracle. More and more cities, from Hamburg to Rome to Boston, considered hosting the Olympics and then backed away.
Two years later, the same strength and dedication that helped Annemiek van Vleuten get back on course to become a world champion had reinvigorated the Olympics with new optimism. FIFA contained the damage of financial scandals and presented a highly professional 2018 World Cup. Perseverance in holding drug-testing programs to higher standards began to rebuild trust. The Tokyo 2020 team was setting records of its own in building a stronger financial foundation for hosting the Olympic Games.
Olympic legend Andy Murray became a symbol for Olympic resilience with another inspirational recovery story. The Olympic gold medal winner of menâs singles tennis tournaments in both 2012 and 2016 had announced in January 2019 that painful hip injuries had convinced him to stop competing in professional tennis. Just five months later, following a rigorous combination of surgery and physical rehabilitation, Murray was back in form and won the menâs doubles tennis tournament with Feliciano Lopez at the prestigious Queenâs Club tournament.
The resilience of the Olympic Games continues to impress people around the world and inspire many to pursue their own impossible moments. This strength makes the story of how the Olympics operate from day to day and year to year a set of valuable lessons about how to manage global enterprises and individual efforts.
The modern Olympics is not perfect. Its most dedicated followers know that all too well. But just like the ancient Olympics which inspired it, the Olympic community has literally changed the world for the better and become a showcase for the resilience and talent of the human race.
Numbers Count
A race from Marathon to Athens concluded the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. This âMarathon Raceâ became a brand name in the world of sports and emerged as a powerful symbol of what both the modern Olympics and individual athletes could achieve. In 1896, 25 men from five nations started the race. The winner, Spiridon Louys of Greece, completed the 40-kilometer course in 178 minutes and 50 seconds.
In 2016, 155 men from 82 nations competed in the marathon race that concluded the Rio Summer Olympic Games. Of them, 140 finished the race and the winner, Eluid Rotich of Kenya, completed the 42.2-kilometer course in just 128 minutes and 44 seconds.
That 50-minute leap in performance equaled a 28 percent increase in speed in this grueling test of endurance. It made the iconic Olympic motto of âFaster! Higher! Stronger!â a reality and inspired millions of men and women to make these goals an important part of their personal lives. Over 1,000 community marathon races open to runners from around the world also took place in 2016. The largest, the New York City Marathon, reported that over 50,000 runners completed the rigorous race. Over 80,000 who met selective accreditation criteria applied for the New York City Marathon alone. London reported 247,000 applicants and Tokyo over 300,000.
The 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games also featured a womenâs marathon that reinforced the Olympic communityâs commitment to sport for all with global participation and impressive results. Increasing participation by women in Olympic events has reinforced goals that appeal to spectators around the globe and keep the Olympic Games relevant. Engaging women in sports, a rarity 125 years ago, has been accompanied by physical fitness regimens and an increase in life expectancy.
In just one century from the Paris Olympics of 1900 to the Sydney Olympics of 2000, global life expectancy more than doubled to reach 66 years. Promotion of active, healthy living by Olympic sports was just one important factor in this success, but the status of the Olympic Games as the worldâs most watched event made it influential.
The iconic marathon races have also demonstrated the ability of the Olympic Games to include athletes from all nations and give all a good chance to excel. The 2016 medalists in the womenâs marathon represented Kenya, Bahrain, and Ethiopia, while the 2016 menâs marathon concluded with medal victories for runners from Kenya, Ethiopia and the United States. Altogether, the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro brought together 11,237 athletes from 207 countries spanning the globe. And 3.5 billion broadcast spectators watched them.
Both the 2016 menâs and womenâs Olympic marathons shared an interesting distinction. All six medalists wore âZoom Vaporflyâ running shoes designed by Nike. This success added to timely discussions about the role of the Olympics as a human race following the ideal that victory must be based entirely on human effort. Over time, this ideal has become synonymous with the expression âlevel playing field,â and given international sports organizations the challenging task of maintaining precise standards to define fair play for all.
For the business community, the impressive success of the âZoom Vaporflyâ runners at the 2016 Olympics highlighted other opportunities. This became one more visible way that elite sports promoted technological innovation and profitability. When the âZoom Vaporflyâ began sales to retail customers, its price of $250 commanded a large premium over average running shoes. This success story also showed sponsors adding expertise and not just money in sports projects. The success also contributed to Nikeâs goals for a related marketing communications campaign, branded as the âBreaking 2 Project.â Its goal of enabling marathon runners to complete races in under two hours represents a 33 percent improvement in performance over the first Olympic Marathon victory in 1896. Not every advance of the human race reaches this level, but it is inspiring.
Another achievement of the marathon fitness culture inspired by the Olympic movement cannot be measured in minutes or dollars or percents. That is the inspiration and vision provided to individuals with chronic diseases who find rigorous athletic training regimens can improve their health and well-being. A frequent standout at the Chicago, New York, and London marathons is âTeam Boomer.â This is a charity founded to provide athletic scholarships to youth diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a lung disorder which used to be fatal in many cases. Fitness regimens are now helping many individuals with cystic fibrosis live longer, healthier lives. In September 2018, a 31-year-old Welshman with cystic fibrosis named Josh Llewellyn-Jones set a world record in another Olympic sport, weightlifting. He lifted a total of 1 million kilograms of weights in one day.
Research by the University of Sydney in Australia has highlighted the value of sports regimens for good health. The cornerstone study of 80,000 adults began in 1994, when Sydney began planning for the 2000 Summer Olympics, and concluded 15 years later. The results presented very substantial reductions in the risk of death from any cause when subjects regularly exercised with one of these tested programs:
- 47 percent reductions for players of racquet sportsâtennis, squash, and badminton
- 28 percent reductions for swimmers
- 27 percent reductions for aerobic exercise participants
- 15 percent reductions for cyclists
The conditioning of athletic training has other valuable health benefits. Regular exercise improves bone density and reduces the risk of fractures or chronic conditions that weaken bones. Studies at the University of West Australia School of Sport Science demonstrated that regular swimming regimens benefitted both the circulatory system and brain functions. The expanding field of sports science continues to find more ways that sports and exercise can improve health.
The Ten Billion Dollar Good Deed
The month before the 2016 Summer Olympics took place in Rio de Janeiro, a private investor group reached an agreement to pay $4 billion for the global UFC franchise in mixed martial arts. The price set a new record as the highest amount ever paid to acquire a sports franchise. That record did not last long. T...
