Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston in conversation with Dame Louise Martin, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation, to mark 500 days to go until the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Podcast contributors
[NH]: 500 days seems a long way away but it's going to go really, really quickly now.
[DLM]: We see ourselves as a family, it's a Commonwealth family.
[NH]: Looking forward to something morale boosting, excitement building.
[DLM]: I just want to see all the athletes enjoying themselves and going leaving saying 'oh that was brilliant that's the best thing i've ever had.'
[VOICEOVER]: Welcome to this special podcast episode marking 500 days to go until the start of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Over the next 15 minutes or so you'll get to hear from Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston in conversation with President of the Commonwealth Games Federation and former athlete Dame Louise Martin. They'll be talking all about their memories of previous Games, what hosting will mean for Birmingham and the West Midlands and most of all, what they're looking forward to as the countdown to the Games continues.
[NH]: Hello Louise.
[DLM]: Hello Nigel how are you?
[NH]: I’m doing well thank you very much. I see we both dressed up for this even though it's a podcast.
[DLM]: Oh I know I thought I'd better have a jacket on and make sure it was okay.
[NH]: I know I was like 'is this just going to be audio or is it going to be video as well?' I should have brushed my hair.
[NH]: It's a really exciting day with 500 days to go and remarkably it's on budget and it's on time which is really quite incredible particularly given the circumstances. I mean we took on the Games at relatively late notice from South Africa, we then had a horrible winter which was bad enough and would normally cause huge problems to construction programmes and then Coronavirus has hit so really quite remarkable and hugely impressed and also excited. Though 500 days to go, it's getting real, it's getting meaningful now. It's not, you know, we can talk about next year now as well in a way that we couldn't, you know, so everything's next year which is getting really exciting. I don't know about you, I mean did you think we'd get here to this point or were you...?
[DLM]: I’m going to tell you what, my feet are doing underneath the table like this trying to catch up but I agree with everything you said. When I go back to that December assembly meeting in the school to announce the games in 17 and managed to see where you have come now from everything that had been done that was there then and where we are now, what has been built in Birmingham centre, the way that the centre of Birmingham has changed dramatically. And not only that, the the empathy from the people in Birmingham and the way that they have now bought into this, they're so excited about it and for us to bring our other CGAs into Birmingham, which to me is the Commonwealth city, and I sell it to them as they've got their families already here to support them at Games time and you have because some of them have now already started connecting with them and that to me is a positive that's never been done before. That's a first and as you see as well, we're on time, well we are on time hopefully to deliver a really good games.
[NH]: I think as well you know we've got to recognise and acknowledge as well the remarkable achievement of managing to hold the Games that is likely to come in, or will come in, at lower cost than the previous Games that was held in Australia and I think that's testament as well that you can hold an amazing Games, without you know, constantly upping the spending and I think that's a good signal to potential other bidders of the Games you know, other cities that may be considering hosting the Games in the future can see that we can do great things but do so with, you know, generous amounts of money but still limited amounts of money and also really put on a most fantastic display.
[NH]: I think things fundamentally changed when people were able to start seeing physical changes you know, when they actually saw that you know the Sandwell Centre actually, the aquatic centre are actually starting to be built and of course seeing physical changes at the Alexander Stadium so you know, instead of just talking about something that might happen, as soon as you start to see those construction projects happening, people really understand this is real, this is going to happen and I think that's a real psychological change as well.
[DLM]: So when you actually saw the excitement when we launched the Longines clock, the first sponsor to come on board and the first multi multi games sponsor as well, which is a first.
[NH]: The pressure's on as well though isn't it because the the bar was set so high with the Glasgow Games in 2014 and then the Gold Coast Games which were, you know, truly spectacular as well I mean they did great things for the cities and the areas in which they were held and you know actually, and this is another great thing about the Games you know, there tends to be a pretty good bang for the buck, there's a good economic impact and a good legacy as well which I'm sure we'll come on to in a moment. The Glasgow Games were hugely successful you know, set the bar so high in fact that we've stolen many of the team members who helped deliver the Glasgow Game delivery in Birmingham but also then you know Gold Coast was just just amazing and you know i've still got in my head so very clearly you know the opening ceremonies and some of the highlights from the Games. So there's a lot of pressure on as well you know for the Games, there's a lot of excitement building but it's quite an awesome responsibility as well.
[NH]: On the back of what has been a horrible global pandemic, it's so important to have something to look forward to and then for us next year in the UK, well actually around the Commonwealth with the Queen's Jubilee but also then the Festival, so we've got the culture and the sport and the Royalty, we've got a lot coming together so there's a real excitement building and i think that's great because i think it'll kind of snowball won't it, the effect will just all still start to come together.
[DLM]: And also what we all have to realise as well is a legacy has to come out of this for Birmingham and the West Midlands because that is so crucial to going forward from other cities and countries to be wanting to be willing to host these games and if you think when we started with Glasgow way back, well it was actually in Manchester and i had breakfast with the Jack McConnell who was then the First Minister of Scotland and it was after sitting in the pouring rain the day before watching the disabled bowls win the gold medal for Scotland, you know fantastic, it was great and we were having this breakfast and John Doyle the CEO was with us and we're just mulling things over and he was looking at me and I'm looking at him and says what do you think and he said if I'm thinking what you're thinking you can go for it but promise me that you will not bankrupt the country, that we will have successful games and you know the Glasgow's the place it should do it, But the transformation in Glasgow from on the back of these Games has been unbelievable. When you think of what you've done or what's been happening already in the West Midlands that's beginning you know to set the legacy for it, it's terrific.
[NH]: It was off the back of it yeah and again there's a strong track record of strong legacies from the Games which I think is really important and you know one of the great things about the Commonwealth community and the learning and sharing that goes on, you know, what was their experience? What could be improved on? What was the benefit? It's always great to have that you know much of the Commonwealth community in terms of helping us truly make the best of the Games but there is a really strong track record. I mean there's the obvious things in terms of legacy such as you know the physical infrastructure and that goes for the transport infrastructure, improvements to the cities, increasing their capacity to hold um events, conferences and so on as you just mentioned but also um you know, the world-class sporting facilities are a really important legacy. The kind of interest and enthusiasm in sport, the opportunities with tourism, as well another important part of my brief, and again in particular in the context of all the excitement around 2022, I think there is a lot we can do. I think we've got to be realistic you know, you don't change the world overnight by holding one event but you can leverage them properly and with the right amount of planning and focus you can get a really good return on investment and make sure that there is a lasting benefit. You won't change the world but you can make a big difference and I am confident that actually we're planning that in advance, we're thinking of the benefits of the Games themselves but also you know, years in advance, thinking about the long-term benefits and I think that's good but I don't know, I mean do you find that's the case as well with with previous Games? I mean what's your experience as well?
[DLM]: Absolutely correct every games is completely different. They used the previous games as the starter for 10 for them to move forward and try and be better and I mean I'll tell you when I when I had my first Game when i was in the Gold Coast, not the Gold Coast, Perth Australia in 62, I mean that was unbelievable Games for us. I mean at the age of 15, 16, you know, you go crikey what is this and when i think for what we had as a village and what the athletes are going to have as a village now, where they're you know one room, one bedroom, en suite for the majority and two maybe, to think of that and I think yeah and they're all together, they're all sharing together, you know, all living and eating together and back then we had a gated village within the main village. The women were segregated and we had a fence around us with barbed wire over the top and things like that and there was a guard at the gate but one gate that's the only way you could go in and out and you had to show your pass every time. No one male was allowed in there at all, not even, not even your team manager. No, we had to go to them.
[NH]: Now I do want to ask you this, because you know, as a woman who's competed in these Games before, and going through that experience you just talked to us about, how you know women are segregated and almost kind of and limited in numbers as well, to our games which iIm really proud of this, this year or next year when we have the Games that they're going to be the first Games where there's going to be more medals events for women and we're particularly putting, I mean literally women on the pedestal and that's Super Sunday when we've got you know the real focus on women's sports towards the end of the the Games, which I think are going to be spectacular. I think that speaks volumes about the progress of the Commonwealth Games to put such a focus on women and women sport and it's a real priority of mine as a Sports Minister as well but I think we can be super proud of that, I think it's something we've really got to shout from the rooftops and I say it does just show the progress and so what do you think about this, as somebody who's got so much experience of the Games?
[DLM]: I think it's terrific and it wasn't by design to do it, it's happenstance. We never set out say right Birmingham's going to be, you know, this but we just had to. Started having a look at it and as over the last 10 years we've actually looked at the programs to see what's happening and it's come in and the way that women's cricket has taken off as well what better place to have it you know in Edgbaston and um yeah absolutely you know and it will be phenomenal.
[NH]: You know, the Commonwealth Games are often commented on as as the friendly games and you know that comes across in both the atmosphere but also you know, you do get world class athletes saying that it's their favourite games. It's the friendliest Games, it's the most inclusive Games and the point you're saying about absolutely going out of our way to try and make sure it truly is a games for everybody, particularly giving and it's about equality of opportunity isn't it, you know because I'm making sure that women get the same opportunity and I'm really proud of the fact that we have the Para-sports completely integrated. I think it is a really strong signal and it is you know, it's rare you don't have that in the Olympics but we've got it in the Commonwealth Games. That integrated nature, there's some very unique things about the Commonwealth Games and we can be very proud about them.
[DLM]: One of the the greatest things for me is the fact that we are one family, where we see ourselves as a family, it's a Commonwealth family. I just want to see all the athletes enjoying themselves and going and leaving saying oh that was brilliant, that's the best thing i've ever had you know and um it is and it's what happens from the minute they arrive until the minute they leave. Every single part of that stays with them for their life. After that it's also what the athletes do and the friendships they make at these Games and I mean, believe it or not, I have still got four or five of them who I met swimming in Australia and one of them we actually were both swimmers and the only way that we actually met was I was a backstroker and she was a butterfly and we happen to be in the same lane and we hit one another. She smacked into me so I get the blame but I said I'm on my back, I can't see where I'm going, O'm looking at the sky because it was an open-air pool, I said you were coming into me but ever since then we've absolutely friends, looked after families when her family were coming over here you know and so it's amazing what happens.
[NH]: That's excellent.
[NH]: I think we can be really proud about the Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham because they will be a game of firsts and one of the things that we're really proud about, is that it's gonna be the first carbon neutral games. You know it's really important topic particularly with young people, to be honest everybody around the Commonwealth is concerned about environmental matters but that's a real first, on top of the other first in terms of the real achievements we've got with more women's medal events than the men's as well. This is a game of first and that carbon neutrality message i think is key. Has this been a long time coming Louise do you think or was it...?
[DLM]: It's it has been a long time coming but we are going to do it here.
[VOICEOVER]: You can find out more about the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games by visiting their website at www.birmingham2022 where you can register to be the first to find out about big announcements like ticket sales and volunteering opportunities. But for now, thanks for listening.