A Chance to Treat Yourself and Help Perdita Help Right To Play

Looking for something to do to start the summer holidays off on a fun note?

The Canadian Track and Field Championships get underway tomorrow at Varsity Stadium and run through Sunday, featuring the likes of Olympic bronze medallist hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, rival Perdita Felicien, world 800-metre silver medallist Gary Reed (featured today in a nice piece by Dave Feschuk), world 400-metre indoor champ Tyler Christopher and shot putter Dylan Armstrong, who missed an Olympic medal by a centimetre, among many others.

This is a rare opportunity -- last time it happened was 1968 -- in a great setting right in downtown Toronto and kids under 12 get in free. Adults pay $20, youth (13-17) pay $10 and a four-day pass is $50. You can buy tickets at Ticketbreak.com or at the stadium.

Felicien launched a neat initiative this week to help the the athlete-driven humanitatrian charity Right To Play. She is donating $12.46 for every race she runs this season – symbolic of her fastest time ever – and asking Canadians to join her in doing the same as she seeks to raise $7,000 by season’s end.

The popularity of Right To Play could be seen last week at a fund-raising golf tournament in Canmore last week spearheaded by Olympic cross country ski champion Beckie Scott. It was a veritable Who’s Who of Canadian Olympic sport.

RANDY STARKMAN PHOTO

A Trip That Olympic Rower Jane Rumball Will Never Forget

COURTESY OF JANE RUMBALL AND RIGHT TO PLAY

Continuing with the theme of Olympic athletes giving back – see today’s story in the Star – rower Jane Rumball has just returned from a trip to see the humanitatrian group Right To Play in action in Uganda.

Rumball spoke about the journey last night at the Toronto Sport and Social Club’s winter awards, where she was presented with a cheque for more than $23,000 for Right To Play. Rumball, a medical student at U of T who is still training full tilt, raised more than $1,100 through an Erg-a-thon she held at the university just before she left and more than $1,700 overall.

Here are some excerpts from a story Rumball wrote on her Uganda experience:

The scene was one I will never forget: crowds of joyful, boisterous African children laughing and clapping, giggling at the awkward muzungu Olympic athlete who couldn't match their rhythm to save her life! It all happened under the unbelievably blue Ugandan sky, with rich red earth and lush greenery surrounding. It was surreal. For a moment, we probably all forgot where we were: Navikale refugee camp, home to almost 50,000 displaced persons who had to flee their countries in order to survive. Immense poverty, rampant diseases, and unspoken stories of conflict. Nothing here seemed to faze the children, though... for a brief moment in time, everyone at the school in Nakivale forgot about conflict, hunger, poverty, and sickness. Instead, we laughed, danced, got rich African soil all over our faces and bodies.

=====

I tried to take on this challenge and participate with my whole being. This meant fully participating in the games, taking time to talk to as many children as possible, and saying a few words to the children. I tried my best to teach them how to row in an eight (on dry land, with hand motions only!), alhough the eight turned into twelve and fifteen as more volunteers came forward! One of the times our coxswain (the smallest volunteer in the group) fell over laughing at the absurdity of it all. It made me wonder if our own coxswain (Olympic gold medallist Lesley Thompson-Willie) actually felt that way sometimes too!

At a particularly difficult stop along the way in Nakivale, I found a little friend who I will never forget. She was a beautiful but severely malnourished girl who held tightly onto my hand throughout all the games. She had severely infected bumps on the side of her head, but still tried to dress up with earrings that looked like they were fashioned out of paper clips. Once she realized that she could hold my hand, she started slowing to rub her face on my arm. For a brief moment I wanted to pull away for fear of somehow getting that infection transmitted to my own skin... but then I realized that most people probably do draw back and make her feel bad. I wanted to be different and let her just stay put beside me for the rest of the session. It ended up being a very special moment for both of us, I think. She started to get into the games and laughed and danced like the other children around her.

Right to Play's tagline is "When children play, the world wins". Most of us would probably agree with that intuitively, but it came to life for me in the Ugandan refugee camp called Nakivale.

Read her full story after the jump

Blood and Sweat on the Floor ...

PHOTO BY RANDY STARKMAN

Jane, right, was ready to Rumball.

Okay, there wasn't any blood.

But there was more than enough sweat when Canadian Olympic rower Jane Rumball hosted an erg-a-thon to raise funds for Right To Play yesterday.

Hard to believe the event actually went from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. yesterday -- you read that right -- but when we checked in on Rumball and her good friend U.S. Olympic silver medalist Michelle Guerette yesterday afternoon they were still taking on all comers at the University of Toronto.

It was $20 to challenge an Olympian and the Right To Play donation can looked like it was getting pretty full. It was a great event, with triple Olympic champion Marnie McBean doing a superb job on colour commentary. She blew out her knee recently or undoubtedly she would have been right in there on the erg.

I decided to give Jane and Michelle a break and challenged my 12-year-old daughter Ella instead.

PHOTO BY RANDY STARKMAN

Michelle Guerette, right, takes on another challenge.

She claimed foul play after the old man pulled off a narrow victory. (Gotta give the kid something to shoot for, right.)

Rumball, a medical student at U of T with a heart of gold, is going to be travelling to Uganda this month with Right To Play and we're hoping to feature some of her missives home on this blog.

Get Ready to Rumball ... With One Of Canada’s Top Rowers

So you think you can beat an Olympian?

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO

Jane Rumball, left, pairs up with  Darcy Marquardt in this 2007 photo.

Well, you can get your chance when world champion rower Jane Rumball and the University of Toronto rowing team hosts an Erg-a-thon fundraiser in support of Right To Play on Tuesday, March 31, in the front lobby of the U of T Athletic Centre (55 Harbord St, downtown Toronto).

Rumball, part of of a Canadian women’s eight that just missed the podium at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a former world champion in pairs, is travelling to Kampala, Uganda, in April to see firsthand the work done by Right To Play, an athlete driven charity that brings sport and play programs to kids in the most disadvantage parts of the world.

Like so many of Canada’s Olympians, Rumball is a special breed of athlete, someone who pushes herself to the physical limit in her sport but is driven by more than the need to excel. She’s incredibly passionate about Right To Play and is also currently a medical student at U of T while continuing to train with the national team.

In other words, a great role model, which is why I plan to bring my daughter and some of her friends to this neat event. I mean who would I rather my kid look up to: Miley Cyrus or someone like Jane Rumball. Hmmmmm.

As part of the fundraiser, for a mere $20, you can get to challenge Rumball or her friend Michelle Guerette, an American rower who won silver in the women’s single sculls at the Beijing Olympics, in a 100-metre showdown.

For those wondering: What’s an Erg-a-thon? Well, an erg is a rowing machine, the equivalent to a stationary bike for rowers. You don’t need any experience on one to give it a try.

The Canadian women's soccer team is also currently doing a Right To Play fundraiser.

The Erg-a-thon runs from 7 a.m. – yeah, rowers like to get up early – until 9 p.m. so you’ve basically got no excuse not to show up if you’re in the neighbourhood.

Here’s a little Q & A with Jane …

Why are you looking so forward to your trip with Right To Play?

Jane: I have really enjoyed being involved with Right to Play because it espouses many of the values that I hold dear, with the added benefit of being an organization that is athlete-driven. Sport has opened so many doors for me, but it is also responsible for teaching me values like perseverance, resilience, teamwork and focus. I've had many life lessons from my involvement in sport and play, and it is a privilege to pass those on to others....and kids in particular should be able to have that same kind of opportunity! I'm looking forward to the trip because it is the first time since I started getting involved with RTP (back in 2007) that I can actually go on a field visit. I imagine it will give me a brand new perspective that I can bring to my speaking engagements that I do to raise funds for RTP.

How is school going? How far are you along in your medical studies?

Jane: School is amazing... even more rewarding than I had hoped, and I had pretty high expectations! My classmates are the most interesting and brightest people I have met, and when you combine that with a high level of compassion, it is truly inspiring. The environment makes me want to be a better person each and every day I am there. I am only in my first year, so there's a long journey still ahead, but I look forward to every step of it!

Will you be taking it easy on the people who challenge you at the Erg-a-thon or will it be full throttle?

Jane: For those that challenge, I have to be honest and say that my competitive nature will most likely come out sooner or later! It's fun for me but I also try to do my best when I'm on that machine, and I will definitely not be taking it easy on people who have rowed in the past or if there are guys out there who want a challenge. There are only so many sprints you can do before you get fatigued, so I'll have to make sure to keep the bigger guys near the front of line so I use my energy effectively!

Have you at least gotten a bit out of shape at school?

Jane: It has definitely been tough staying in racing shape during full-time medical school. Once I decided I wanted to race this year, the first few hard workouts made me feel like I was a novice again! Fortunately it comes back pretty quickly, and I have years of training under my belt, so it makes it easier to tell my body it has to get ready to race again. The best thing I did all year for my rowing was to join the U of T nordic ski team. It was so much fun, and I am so terrible at it, that it made me motivated to learn. I absolutely love ski racing, even though I had at least two faceplants per race.

Athletes To Officials Banning Right To Play: Shame On You

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Beckie Scott skis to a silver medal in Torino, Italy exactly three years ago today.

A Who's Who of present and past Canadian Olympians today sent out an overwhelming statement of support to the humanitarian organization Right To Play over its ouster from the athletes village for the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics.

Its strength is really in its simplicity and timing.

One year out from the Games, it embarrasses the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC)  and International Olympic Committee (IOC) by the sheer power of the names on the list -- including athletes held up by VANOC, the IOC and Canadian Olympic Committee as paragons of Olympic values.

These include Olympic champion cross country skier Beckie Scott, who is a member of VANOC's board of directors and the IOC Athletes Commission, and three-time Olympic rowing gold medalist Marnie McBean, who works for the Canadian Olympic Committee, as well as three-time Olympic rowing medalist Silken Laumann .

Scott and McBean, in particular, are going out on a limb in signing the statement, because it won’t be well received in the worlds they currently inhabit.

What this statement appears to say more than anything to the poobahs who run the 2010 Winter Games and the Olympic movement as well as the sponsors who supported the barring of Right To Play from the athletes village is: Shame on You.

The athletes write among other things:

"This is an athlete driven movement. As we, the athletes, have been talking to each other, we found something felt deeply wrong and violated by the IOC’s ruling. "

"Because the athletes are intensely focused on competition during the Olympics, providing easy contact to RTP (Right To Play) is necessary."

Among the other names signing the statement are:

Olympic champions Jenn Heil, Adam Van Koeverden, Chandra Crawford, Mark Tewksbury, Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford, Cassie Campbell, Kyle Shewfelt, Clara Hughes and from the Olympic champion men’s eight Adam Kreek, Andrew Byrnes, Ben Rutledge, Brian Price Dominic Seiterle, Jake Wetzel, Kevin Light, Kyle Hamilton.

Also among those currently preparing for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on the list are: long track speed skater Denny Morrison (world champion, 1500 metres), cross country skier Devon Kershaw, freeestyle aerialist Deidra Dionne (Olympic bronze, 2002), Drew Neilson (World Cup overall champ boardercross), short track speed skater Jean-François Monette, and skeleton racers Jeff Pain (Olympic silver, 2006) and Mellissa Hollingsworth (Olympic bronze, 2006).

Here is the complete statement and list.

It was the VANOC who made the original decision to bar Right To Play for the first time since its inception in 1992 because the charity’s sponsors conflicted with their own and partly because one of its biggest sponsors, General Motors, feared ambush marketing.

The IOC subsequently decided to ban the humanitarian organization from future Games and VANOC has done its best to hide behind them on this issue. The IOC delivered the cheery news of their ouster to Right To Play in a letter just before Christmas.

Count on VANOC coming out and saying something today -- if they say anything at all -- about how they, too, support Right To Play’s cause and wish them well and will do everything to support them outside the village and about how they passed the hat around at Christmas to raise money for them and that some of their best friends and own board members are part of Right To Play.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

These athletes who stepped forward represent a future and past Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame cast based on their performance on the field of play, but even more so for their eloquent statement today.

Sing Like Kreek: Right To Play Ouster A Dumb Move

Canadian rower Adam Kreek is an inspiring athlete. His rousing rendition of O Canada when he and his teammates in the men’s eight won Olympic gold in Beijing motivated triathlete Simon Whitfield in his stirring silver-medal performance at the Games. Whitfield wrote “Sing Like Kreek” on the handlebars of his bike.

Kreek, an ambassador for the humanitarian group Right To Play, sent an email yesterday saying he can’t fathom last week’s move by the IOC to ban the organization from the athletes village at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and future Games. It was the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) who made the original decision to bar Right To Play for the first time since its inception in 1992.

REUTERS FILE PHOTO

Speaking of Adam Kreek and inspiring.

Here’s what Kreek wrote:

I hope you have been following the dumb move by the IOC. The exact same values I was touting for using sport for development and inclusiveness in our last correspondence have been thrown out the window. Let's keep support for the grass roots. Let's keep support for the poor children. Let's give a helping hand. Exclusion and elitism does not do this.

To re-state we often overlook the importance a more inclusive event can have on the goals of human development and peace, the humanitarian side of the Olympic movement. A big part of the Olympics is about bringing as many people together with divergent heritages and backgrounds on a common playing field. We need to be able to overlook the petty differences that keep people disconnected and find ways to integrate as many cultural participants in the Olympic games as is fair and ethical.

Right to Play is one of the best humanitarian efforts that the Olympic movement has produced. This organization needs all the support and help it can get!!!

Olympic champion speed skater Clara Hughes has posted in her blog on what Right To Play means to her. Here’s an excerpt telling how Right To Play motivated her when she was looking for inspiration before the 5,000 metres at the 2006 Turin Games. She saw a feature of the group's work on a CBC feed:

I saw clearly how these shy little kids who literally had nothing were transformed when engaged in sport; engaged in play. Their eyes told the stories of horrors beyond belief, yet these same eyes shone with what I can only qualify as joy when they played. Right to Play had been in Uganda for some time at that point, and the programs were proving more than effective. In fact, many people said that these were the programs having a true, lasting impact on these children.

I remembered a passage in a book I read throughout my time in Italy. It was a book about the mythological historian Joseph Campbell, and he talked about finding joy in the struggle of being human and how this was when one is truly alive.

I saw these kids and this transformation was exactly that: finding joy in the struggle.

See the full post here.

Don’t Fall for VANOC Spin on Right To Play’s Ouster

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

From left, speed skater Arne Dankers, Olympic moguls champion Jennifer Heil, Hayley Wickenheiser, and speed skater Kristina Groves.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Games (VANOC) would like us to believe they were on the sidelines while the humanitarian group Right To Play was getting booted out of the athletes village.

But the fact remains this was a VANOC initiative from the get-go. They said as much when the story first broke in October. VANOC official Andrea Shaw said it was their own decision to keep Right To Play out because of conflicting sponsors.

Shaw made a point - the same day she made that statement - of trying to get back in touch with the Star again later to add something to what she’d said earlier – that the International Olympic Committee was considering kicking Right to Play out of the entire Olympic movement.

Interesting that Shaw was in touch enough with the IOC to have that information – which turned out to be true – but VANOC officials, including top gun John Furlong, wanted us to believe yesterday they weren’t aware that the IOC had followed through on what VANOC said they were threatening to do in October.

We should all remember the stance that VANOC and General Motors Canada took when the original news broke and they took a beating in the media. There was a lot of talk about how they would work hard to resolve the issue. Furlong was one of those saying that.

GM Canada wrote a letter to the Star, saying they really cared about the charity and were offering transportation during the Games and access to events for some of Right To Play’s kids at the Vancouver Olympics (They obviously did not understand the charity's work. These are kids living in the most desolate places in the world; they need sports programs, not bobsleigh tickets.)

VANOC never got back in touch with Right To Play after making that public show of concern. The Star called VANOC yesterday to ask about that, but they couldn’t produce a live person and instead sent canned quotes which stated they were on the sidelines while the IOC made the decision. (Let's face it, the IOC makes a large and convenient target. All those who cover them know that.)

VANOC also pointed out in the email they sent yesterday that they did an internal fundraiser for Right To Play during Christmas. They didn’t say how much it raised.

From Dave Cobb, VANOC Executive vice president, Revenue, marketing, communications:

“Their participation in the Village is only one way that they were involved in the Games and we’ve been monitoring discussions carefully. We felt it was important for us to at least stay on the sidelines until Right To Play and the IOC resolved what their long term arrangement would be. We’re only here for another year.

"The work they do is much needed and fantastic work and the IOC believes that too – but for whatever reasons, they’ve concluded that they won’t be part of the Village.

"We believe very strongly in what they (RTP) do and support them through a number of initiatives. We have people on our staff who are members of their Board, in fact we participated in a fundraising campaign internally over Christmas – but as a result of discussions with the IOC, they won’t be part of the Village.”

This from staunch Right To Play supporter and ace speed skater Clara Hughes on yesterday’s news:

“It is a disappointment to me because I believe RTP (Right To Play) has had a huge impact on athletes since 2000 in terms of bringing many of us back to the simplicity of sport and play -- and bridging the gap between this simplicity and what we are doing as athletes at the Olympic level.

“However, in saying this, in some ways this is a positive thing for RTP in that they will be able to focus many of their resources during the Olympics outside of the village and engage enormous amounts of people into the movement of sport for development.

“Will my commitment change to RTP because of this? Absolutely not. The programs, the leaders, and the children will continue to motivate and inspire me, and I in turn will continue to raise awareness and help connect people to this powerful movement that is changing the lives of so many children.”

Here is the IOC’s official position:

"The IOC is committed to using sport to help disadvantaged people, especially young people, and contribute to the development of healthy communities. As part of these efforts the IOC works with a wide range of partners including UN and government agencies, NGOs and sports bodies around the world.

"The IOC has extensive peace promotion, humanitarian assistance and environmental programmes and is also active in refugee camps. The IOC has decided to focus its resources on these programmes.

"As a result, the IOC has reviewed its relationships with a number of partners, including Right to Play, and decided not to renew the Memorandum of Understanding between the IOC and Right to Play which expired last year. Right to Play will remain a recognized organization within the Olympic Movement and thus enjoy the full respect of the IOC for its activities."

It's Official: Right To Play is barred from 2010 Vancouver Olympic village

It’s official now: Right To Play, the charity of choice for this country’s Olympians, will be barred from the athletes village at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.

For the first time since its inception in 1992, Right To Play, which began as Olympic Aid under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee, will not be able to spread the word about their programs to educate and uplift youth in some of the most desolate places in the world through sport.

The Star first reported the news that the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) had denied Right To Play access to the village because the humanitarian organization had sponsors that directly conflicted with their own.

These include Mitsubishi, which had recently given Right To Play a $480,000 donation. General Motors Canada has a $67 million deal with VANOC and their communications director, Stu Low, complained there was “guerilla marketing going on.”

A public backlash when the news about the ban broke prompted VANOC and GM Canada to say the issue was being revisited and both expressed confidence the issues could be resolved.

But Johann Olav Koss, the ceo of Right To Play, said he had received a letter from the International Olympic Committee saying that they would not be accepted into the village and that they were not renewing the memorandum of understanding the two groups shared. That means they will have no village access and won’t be officially part of of the Olympics in any way.

Koss said he never heard back from VANOC after they went public saying they would work to resolve the issues.

“We sent suggestions of how we could partner without infringing on their Olympic rights and, of course, their sponsors, which we are in full support of,” Koss said. “And we have never had any issues with our normal Olympic partners and have never of course given them any access to the village. I sent them suggestions for partnership. I never heard back from them, with the exception of this letter I received from the IOC.”

The letter from the IOC came at the end of December.

“I got it the day before Christmas Eve, so it was a nice Christmas present,” said Koss.

Right To Play's Mission Lost In Translation by GMC

As part of the ongoing controversy over the Vancouver Organizing Committee’s (VANOC's) decision to keep the humanitarian group Right To Play out of the athlete’s village for the 2010 Olympics, GM Canada has made a generous offer to host some of the children that the charity supports at the Games.

The only problem with that is it’s not remotely what Right To Play does as a organization.

They don’t take children to the Olympics, or Disneyland for that matter, not that there’d be anything wrong with that, but it would do absolutely nothing to address the problems they’re trying to address in the world.

They bring sport and play programs to the most desolate parts of the world, where children have absolutely nothing, including often hope.  They train volunteers to set up programs in these places like Rwanda and Sierre Leone and those people train locals to keep those programs going after they leave.

There seems to be a huge lack of understanding of that when you see what GM Canada is offering as an olive branch, although it is a very well-meaning gesture on their part. Perhaps, that lack of understanding is a big part of this problem.

Right To Play does not want to bring kids from Africa and other places to watch bobsleigh; they want to give they something constructive to do and help them build meaningful lives.  They believe being in the athletes village, where they’ve been since 1994, has given them a valuable platform to do that.

More stories on Right to Play:

Group on IOC's hit list

Charity forbidden in athletes village

Sports help push peace message

 

Right to Breathe ... more Right To Play

There’s a number that the stellar skiing duo Sara Renner and Thomas Grandi want you to know about – it’s 350.

The number 350 is considered the safe level in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide for the global planet. Scientists say that CO2 levels now stand at 387.

Renner, an Olympic silver cross country skiing medalist, and her husband Grandi, a two-time winner on the World Cup alpine circuit, are staging an event on Sunday in Banff, Alta., to help create more awareness of the problem.

Calling it the “350 Ride,” they are planning on leading a group of 350 cyclists on a 20-kilometre recreational ride. They are hoping it will inspire political leaders to act and remember the critically important number, 350.

They were inspired when they heard environmentalist Bill McKibben, who launched the 350.org initiative, speak in Banff this year. Afterwards, they talked with their friends about what are the biggest differences they could make.

“The biggest difference we can make now is inspiring political change,” said Renner this week. “He started getting people involved and started to get people to know why the number 350 is so important and why everybody should know about it.

“It’s universally decided by scientists that this is the safe line for human life on earth. It seems to be such a huge issue and yet we have so little knowledge and so little political will to make differences.”

They decided on the idea for the ride while walking back from the conference.

“We did it on a whim and it’s good timing because of the election,” said Renner. “It’s just something we feel is important and I think a lot of people do also, so hopefully we get a good turnout and ultimately it sends a message to our soon-to-be government that Canadians really feel that this is an important issue.”

Renner and Grandi's passion should be admired. It's not like they're sitting on a ton of free time. Renner will just be getting back from a high altitude training camp in Mammoth Mountain, Calif., before the ride and Grandi's in the midst of a comeback after retiring following the 2006-07 season. They have a one-year-old daughter, Aria.

If you want to see one of Renner's speeches on the subject in 2006, check this out.

Renner and Grandi are both also members of Right To Play, the athlete-powered humanitarian organization that is being kept out of the athlete’s village for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics because it has sponsors conflicting with the organizing committee (VANOC).

Rumball on Right To Play: Speaking of Right To Play, among its athlete ambassadors who believe the organization will be hurt by its banishment from the village is rower Jane Rumball, a fervent supporter who’s just started medical school at the University of Toronto.

Here’s Rumball’s take on things:

“My feeling is it’s a real loss to Right To Play if they’re not able to have a presence in the Olympic village. Just noticing coming back from Beijing, they do have a real presence and a lot of athletes are just very interested once they see the signage. I think they had a sign about the fact your influence as an Olympian never ends.

“They’re really giving an opportunity to Olympic athletes to be able to give back. I think that’s really important. It’s the one sign in the Olympic village that your platform can be used for something beyond your own aims and goals.

“That’s the chord it struck with me when I first heard about Right To Play. That would have been about a year and a half ago. I’ve always wanted sport to be something beyond just self gratification, this idea of using sport as something to contribute to a worthy purpose.

“I struggled for years thinking ‘I have this sport, I want to use it for something good, I have this platform and limited window of opportunity, how do I then channel it, where’s my voice going to be?’

“Then when I heard (founder) Johann (Olav Koss) speak at a sports celebrity dinner in Hamilton and I heard him tell the story about Olympians being able to use that platform, to use this idea for sport for development.

“Intuitively, it makes sense that kids learning, playing, developing teamwork and learning the skills you use playing sport is going to help contribute to development later on. I think what was great about that celebrity dinner is I finally heard Johann’s vision and was able to say ‘Hey, this is something I can really relate to and get involved with.’

“I think that the problem is that people may not be able to see this as well if they don’t get to the Olympics and see this booth and say ‘Hey, what’s this about?’ … I mean anyone knows the more attention you can get to something, the more presence that you have, especially in a place like that.

“When the Games finish, when your races are over, it is a real time for self reflection because you’ve just accomplished a goal, you’ve just finished something you’ve been training for for at least four years. They have a chance to look around the village once or twice more before they leave. The presence of a charitable organization like Right To Play I think is crucial at that time.”