Interview of Chris MARSH, London 2012 Competition Manager

He will be in charge for planning and organising both the Olympic and Paralympic archery events and he will face the challenge of managing the historical venue of Lord’s Cricket Ground.   First of all, please tell us about your position at LOGOC. When I am around and I meet people, everybody greets me but then they ask me: "What is your job exactly", because no one knows what being a Competition Manager (CM) really means. A good CM has to do 101 things at one time, has to be reactive to be able to find solutions very fast. Some of his tasks are managing all the communications between people, from different areas and different positions. I have to manage 90 functional areas, such as logistics, accommodations, media, catering and so on… Then I have to explain them how these things should be done in an archery competition. I have to meet the standards set not only by the World Archery Federation (WA), but also by the IOC and IPC, which – you know – are different.   In your opinion, is your knowledge of archery helping you in your task? Of course it is. But it is also important to be organised. You should be capable of doing almost everything. Then obviously everything depends on your personal skills. This works for the volunteers’ selection, too. It is easier to teach an archer how to cope with the organisational aspects than teaching to an expert how the archery world is like. Certainly being an archer helped me, but there are other things I do not know well. I have been to some international competitions. I am here in Turin at such a big World Championships so I know how things are like. But I am not a judge, so I am lacking this knowledge. Although I have by my side Xiuzhi ZHANG, who is a judge and she is helping me. Then I can count on the FITA staff and a lot of other people.   What do you think of this event? I have never been to Turin before and I like it. I like the city and I like the fact that it hosted the Winter Olympics 2006. It is also nice to be back in the event, meeting teams, friend, volunteers and FITA staff. You know, every World Championships is important to gain the quota places for the Olympics, but this event is particularly important because it is such a big competition. They had the courage to take both the Championships and the Para Championships, with lots of athletes and volunteers and people around. The main difference is that in London I will have only 128 archers, but here they have more than 300 archers in the recurve division, and then you have the compound division, too. This is only for the World Championships. They will also have the Para Championships next week, which means having hundreds of archers more. It is useful for me to see how the volunteers are working. I like how they can overcome the challenges, such as technology and the weather conditions always with a smile on their face. This is the thing I like the most, seeing people happy to work together. They are impeccable, really. They have come from every part of Italy to work here, to help, to stay together and they are enjoying it.     Tell us something you would change and something you would like to keep from this competition—the ups and downs. Well, I would definitely like to have such well-trained volunteers in London. And of course the weather, I love the Italian weather! [He laughs] We are selecting people to work both on the field and in the offices. We are choosing them by their skills, their experience, their availability and accommodation. We can't provide accommodation for everybody, because it would be too expensive. If they already have a place to stay, it is better for everybody. On the other hand, here the transports have been difficult but this is understandable because there are really a lot of people to move and manage.   In your opinion, what is the most difficult thing when you are organising a big event? The hardest things are transportation, hotel accommodation and the schedule. No matter how much you tested it on paper, when you are in it you will never know what to do and how to do it. That is why we are organising a test event in October. I am glad I am here, because I know I can learn something for London 2012.   Dajana PICCOLO, Rebecca RABOZZI World Archery Communication