Giles Chater, COO – Spartan
Nick Bitel, Chief Executive – London Marathon Group
Zena Wooldridge, President – World Squash
Densign White, CEO – International MMA Federation
The complexity involved in staging large sporting events is in stark contrast to the simplicity of the original idea.
Giles Chater said, “Sport is more important than it has ever been. We’re trying to get people off the couch.”
Nick Bitel agreed, “London is a cosmopolitan city, it represents every single point of view. You’ll find some reason to disagree with what we or a partner do. We were founded to bring people together.”
Zena Wooldridge emphasised the amount of due diligence that has to be conducted prior to staging a major event. “We have to be really careful about the awarding of our championships, we’ve become more agile. We’ve learnt from experience,” she said. “Countries have to commit to issuing visas to all nations.”
Densign White discussed the specific issue of whether to allow athletes from Russia to compete. “We’ve seen quite a lot of change, Russian athletes could only compete as neutral athletes, our board are now considering re-instating the Russian Federation. It’s a gamble to bring them back in. We could have a boycott by the Ukrainians.”
Bitel confirmed the breaking news that the organisers of the London Marathon are planning a two day event in 2027 – a Double London Marathon.
“It is something we are investigating and talking through with partners.” He stressed that it would be a one-off occasion. “This a one and done. It will not mean the London Marathon will be over two days for ever”
Looking to the future, Chater said, “We have a mission to change 100 million lives. How do we convince people to sign up?”
Bitel emphasised that the London Marathon Group want to grow their number of events and people taking part. “It has to be growth with a purpose, and for everyone. We have to work harder to make that happen.”
Wooldridge stressed that World Squash is aiming to boost women’s participation, and aims to capitalise on now being an Olympic sport.
White believes MMA is many years away from Olympic recognition. “As an international federation, we started only 12 years ago, we’ve grown a lot.”