interview
From sofa to action – the underlying message of London 2012 is: ‘Be the best you can be’
Olympians are out there, pushing themselves to their personal best – why don’t you get involved in this and pledge to do something, whether that’s an extreme physical challenge or just watching less TV and going for a jog?’ It gives a framework for them to have those conversations. “But as with my comment earlier
about being 10 per cent of the way in terms of the profile of the Games, so too with this campaign. Our Greatest Team, in all its facets, has only really gone live in the last couple of months. We’re going to need to fast-forward nine months to see what sustainable impact it’s had.”
Inspiring individuals Chambers continues: “Ultimately, though, inspiration starts at an individual level. It’s about really understanding human emotions. I hold another role – chair of the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation – and in that role I’ve gained great insight into the barriers preventing women and teenage girls from taking more exercise or getting actively involved in sport. A lot of it comes down to the fitness industry not providing the right sort of facilities or the right sort of environment to attract those people.
“All these challenges are well
documented, and they represent opportunities for fitness operators to respond, but historically the sector has been populated by people who just loved working out. They therefore didn’t spend much time thinking about the mentality of someone who found it a challenge to go into a gym. “Some of the more innovative
operators are recognising that, with big changes over the last 10 years in the type of facilities they provide, the type of environment. But there’s still a lot to do – to some extent, thankfully. I mean, if all of those problems had been fixed and still people weren’t working out, I would feel more desperate, but actually an awful lot of it can be fixed relatively easily. There probably is the challenge of capital investment for the fitness industry, and it’s well documented that a number of the groups face real financial challenges – it’s not an easy industry to make it work commercially. But just as an observer, I think you can see that those groups that are succeeding are the ones that have made the investment in facilities, in responding to consumer needs. They’re not stuck in a traditional format assuming that something is going to change, because it won’t. “To draw a parallel, eating out in
Britain 25 or 30 years ago was a fairly grim experience, whereas now pretty much every pub is a gastro-pub. You go to Westfield and the whole shopping
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experience is completely different from how it used to be. In the same way, the user experience has to be re-invented within the fitness industry, with the same high standards of presentation as in other leisure sectors.”
Be your best Returning then to the Olympics specifically, what is it about his job that most excites Chambers? “It’s the thought that we can connect with the entire nation through the power of the Olympics. The thought that we can talk to people on a mass level and engage them in something inspirational. “The obvious objective for any Olympic
team is to win lots of medals, but I think everyone at the BOA recognises this is actually a means to an end. We’re not elite athletes at the BOA – we’re broadly representative of the nation and I think we have a great empathy with the challenges people face in going out and getting fit. We therefore recognise the important role we have to play in helping people to be inspired by the Olympics. “For us, Olympic success will be
measured by the effect it has on ordinary people across the country and the local inspiration it provides. It’s all about harnessing the power of the Olympic rings to act as a catalyst for people to become the best they can be.”
healthclub@leisuremedia.com kate cracknell
june 2012 © cybertrek 2012
NICK STUBBS /
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
ATURNER /
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
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