IN DEPTH


Tokyo 2020: when a sprint turned into a marathon


CILIP President Paul Corney steps down from the role at the end of the year, and in his final Presidential Musing’s feature he speaks to Chris Payne, head of the International Olympic Committee’s Information, Knowledge and Games Learning (IKL) Unit about putting on the planet’s biggest sporting event during a pandemic.


IT is, according to international research, the most recognisable logo in the world: the Olympic rings, symb­


olising­five­continents­­coming­ together. And the Olympic and Paralympic Games are the major global sporting­event,­taking­place­every­two­ years, with alternating summer and winter editions.


Imagine the logistical challenge facing each host city, with numerous stakeholders, as it prepares for a massive influx of tens of thousands of athletes, officials, media and spectators. Plus, the challenge of ensuring the maximum legacy, over decades, from the one summer of sport.


Then imagine the whole thing, seven years in the planning, being postponed for the first time in its history. All the venue agreements to be renegotiated. All the plans redrawn. And, from a blank sheet of paper, a safe and secure way found of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event – featuring more than 10,000 athletes – amid the worst global pandemic in a century. Playing an important role in supporting the planning, delivery and legacy of each Games is a professional knowledge and information management team who call upon an array of skills familiar to many CILIP members.


I’ve always considered the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as one of the best examples of how to pass on the baton of


22 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL Paul Corney is President of CILIP.


knowledge from one event to another: how to capture the right knowledge and ensure it is made available in a format that is useful for future local organising committees (LOCs); how to use innovative technology to bring logistical experiences to life; how to ensure that lessons are identified, learned and processes updated; and how to create a legacy that is sustainable.


In the light of Covid-19, I was even more impressed with how the IOC managed to deliver incredible games in Tokyo, albeit with no spectators. I was intrigued at how the knowledge management specialists


December 2021


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