Influential Leaders Go #beyondthegames
Paralympic legend Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Glasgow 2014 CEO David Grevemberg, IOC Executive Board Member and WADA President Sir Craig Reedie, former NBA star John Amaechi, and former Unicef President Lord Puttnam took to the stage at Beyond The Games, powered by Dell, on Monday – a groundbreaking international summit for social change through sport.
The event brought together sports and civic leaders to explore the power of the Games to advance promotion of and respect for the Commonwealth Games Federation’s core values of humanity, equality and destiny.
Opening the event, staged in partnership with Dell, the Official IT Hardware and Data Centre Supporter of Glasgow 2014, saw Grevemberg – who becomes the new CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation after this year’s competition – express his delight at the gathering: ‘This is an incredible opportunity to talk about issues that really matter.’
Looking beyond Glasgow 2014, the chief executive continued: ‘Sport is a critical part of every strong community.’
‘Legacy is not something that happens to you. It is something that happens by you.’
The event saw equal rights, inclusion and ethics on the agenda just two days before the Opening Ceremony.
During his speech on ‘Destiny’, one of the three key values of Glasgow 2014 alongside Humanity and Equality, the Homeless World Cup’s Mel Young was keen to stress the importance of the opportunity presented to Glasgow to make a lasting difference.
Young commented: ‘It’s entirely possible to change people’s destiny if we want to, legacy is about people not buildings. We can use the Games to change the destiny of the city.’
Meanwhile, John Amaechi – a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist himself with the England basketball team – spoke passionately about the effect sport had on him, and urged the City of Glasgow to embrace the same feeling ahead of Glasgow 2014.
‘We are not saying we can transform sport and solve all the world’s problems in one day. But we do know for certain that if we ignore those problems, and don’t use opportunities like this to come together and explore how we can support each other, then nothing will be done.’
Also contributing and engaging in the gathering – unprecedented in either Scottish or Commonwealth sport – was Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Government’s Minister for External Affairs and International Development, Councillor Archie Graham, Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council and Executive Member for the Commonwealth Game, Mel Young, Founder of the Homeless World Cup and Rimla Akhtar, Chair of the Muslim Women’s Sports Foundation.
Beyond Sport brings together global leaders, sporting legends and world influencers from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to David Beckham to Michelle Kwan on an international platform to network, share stories of hope and innovation and to explore how using sport to address social issues in communities can trigger social change.
Beyond The Games, powered by Dell, is uniquely backed by Glasgow 2014, the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Caledonian University.
Beyond Sport’s Global Partners are Barclays, TIME, ESPN and UNICEF.
For more information on Beyond The Games, powered by Dell, visit www.beyondsport.org
