jun.20.2008
By Ashling O'Connor, Times Olympics Correspondent
The biggest shake-up of the British Olympic Association(BOA )in its 100-year history will be announced today before the handover of the summer Games from Beijing to London on August 24.
A restructuring of the organisation will begin at the top, with the search for a new chief executive from the business world in a quest to double annual revenues, from £11million, and the number of staff, from 60. Headhunters have been appointed to find a commercial leader, certain to demand a six-figure salary, who is capable of running a National Olympic Committee (NOC) at a time when Britain will be host nation for an Olympic Games.
Simon Clegg, the outgoing chief executive, will continue on the management team - as chef de mission, leading the Great Britain team, at the Beijing Games. Lord Moynihan, chairman of the BOA, said the reshuffle would allow Clegg to “focus on what he is good at”.
The announcement is the culmination of three months' work by management consultants at AT Kearney, which was tasked with beefing up the BOA in light of the 2012 Games coming to London.
A more heavyweight management structure, with an emphasis on business expertise, was viewed as essential to ensuring that Britain meet their target of fourth place in the 2012 medals table.
It is also recognition that Olympic chiefs will come under much greater scrutiny after Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, receives the Olympic flag from his Chinese counterpart at the closing ceremonies in Beijing.
The BOA cannot afford to repeat gaffes such as the infamous “gagging order”, which spiralled into an international incident after clumsy wording was inserted into the contracts of Britain athletes going to Beijing.
The BOA was founded in 1905 in the House of Commons, around only nine sports - fencing, life-saving, cycling, skating, rowing, athletics, rugby, football and archery - but now represents 35 national governing bodies from Olympic sport.
Independent of the Government, it depends entirely for its income on its fundraising activities and commercial sponsorship. These ventures are likely to become increasingly difficult given the restrictions around the London 2012 and Olympic brands and the competition for money in a tight economic climate.
“Being a host nation NOC places huge additional demands on the organisation and it is right that the BOA executive board is working with consultants to review and agree a new structure,” Moynihan said. “Over the next six months, changes to strengthen the BOA are likely to be the most far-reaching in our history.”
The BOA's executive board yesterday also approved a recommendation to relocate to more “appropriate” modern offices in Central London.