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11 / 06 / 2004
Adolf Ogi: Sports don’t need translators
The sports adviser of the secretary general of the UN requested that sports be used to solve conflicts.
Adolf Ogi, sports adviser to the secretary general of the UN proposed this afternoon in the plenary session of the Dialogue “Sports: A Universal Dialogue. World Forum on Education, Culture, and Sports” that sports should help to create a pacifist world, given that they are universal and don’t need translators.”
According to what he said, sports “unify countries and mix cultures” and in this sense, he suggested that we use them as an element to “contribute to peace in the Middle East.” He pointed out that “politics have failed in this region and we have to look for new ideas. Sports is one of them.”
Afterwards, he commented that today, there are more than 70 conflicts in the world, and if the instruments to resolve these don’t work, we need to look for new ideas and methods, given that sports is a power that is well known for contributing to world peace. Nonetheless, he insisted that this would give results in the long run “you won’t be able to see the changes from one day to another.”
Likewise, he informed the public that the United Nations declared 2005 as the Year of Sports and up to now, 150 projects could be developed. However, he specified that we shouldn’t however let large scale events destroy the environment.
“Just as we need political, religious, scientific, and spiritual leaders to work for world peace, athletes can also do this,” added Adolf Ogi.
Joan Gañite, director general of architecture of the Catalan Autonomous Government, referred to the achievements of sports in projects of sustainability and development in cities. As an example, he referred to the urbanization and canalization of the Segre River for the Olympics of Barcelona 1992. He pointed out that the big sports events “manage to integrate everyone, and contribute to the social and environmental development of places.”
Gabriel Macaya, rector of the University of Costa Rica, spoke at length about the influence of sports in the development of tourism, and, he expressed that “tourism for sports events should become the guardian of the environment.”
Joseph Tarradellas, member of the Environmental Commission of the COI, mentioned the necessity to link sustainability to development and for this, requested that people “think globally act locally.”
Today, in the parallel afternoon sessions, topics related to the transformation of cities for big sports events were dealt with, along with the need to encourage some sports practices and radically eliminate others that damage the ecosystem. At the same time, people advocated for the control of and limitation of the large constructions dedicated to sports, for the large consumption of energy that this represents were also.
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