Katie Sadlier: Commonwealth Sport CEO on Auckland hosting the Oceania National Olympic Committees' General Assembly

The Commonwealth Games are in the spotlight as Auckland hosts another major event this week. 

The Oceania National Olympic Committees’ General Assembly is underway at Eden Park. 

New IOC President Kirsty Coventry will be among the 200 delegates as the region builds towards the LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games. 

Commonwealth Sport CEO Katie Sadlier told Mike Hosking they’re focused more on the short term than the long term at the moment, with the Glasgow Commonwealth Games beginning in 64 days. 

For them, she says, it’s very much about helping people through the last minute preparations and ensuring people maximise the opportunity presented by the Glasgow Games. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the old Major Events file. Now we talked you
about trends and tourism yesterday. Today it's the Oceania Olympic
Committee's General Assembly, which is being held in Auckland. At
the moment they're talking LA twenty eight, Brisbane, thirty two
Glasgow this year. Of course, Katie Sadley is the boss
of the Commonwealth Sport Department there and she's.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
With us Morning Morning to you too.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So when we talk about Oceania one of five regions,
do you all roughly in your meetings talk about the
same thing.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yes, Well, first of all, I mean, I'm here representing
our the COMWAF Games movement and we're really fortunate that
the IOC taste for this event. But because our members
are so similar, particularly in Oceania, we actually run our
own day which is specifically looked at cokomoff Games issues.
But yeah, I mean, we have regional meetings just like
the IOC does, and the topics are very similar.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
And these topics are these very specific driven topics as
we head towards, you know, like LA in twenty eight
and Brisbane and thirty two. Or is this sort of
a hype fest and a get together and a sharing
of ideas, ideals and all that sort of stuff with
a few drinks at the end of the day.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, ours is a little bit more focused because in
sixty four days the Coomwolf Games starts in Glasgow, so
it's very much about you know, helping people with the
last minute thinking through their team preparations. We've had the
chief executive of the Glasgow Games down here meeting with
the members just in making sure that everything's okay, you know,
So that's it isn't about the long term. It really

(01:24):
right now for the Commonworf Games movement is about the
short term making sure that people maximize the opportunity that
is presented by Glasgow.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Are they I think so.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, everyone's very buoyant about the opportunity. I mean we've
had some hardships over the last four years, but we're
really coming out of that with the announcement of Amdavad
for twenty thirty and we've got a multi use games
next year. So people are very much on board. I
know the athletes are getting very excited about Glasgow.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
So what was the problem with the Commonwealth Games in
terms of location and what's changed materially to as you say,
come out of it.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Well, I mean we launched a new ten year vision
with the aim of uniting the com wall through sport,
I mean two point seven billion people, the third of
the world's population in twenty twenty three, just after the
Burning Games, and then unfortunately the following month's Victoria pulled
out of the common WORLF Games, who were supposed to
be hosting the Games in twenty twenty six. So that

(02:19):
you know, created a really interesting period of time in
terms of quickly regrouping as the members to say, well,
what are we going to do about twenty six? But
I guess the key thing for us was that in
the new strategy, which was a ten year strategy looking
at how do we reimagine the Games for the future,
we were always going to have a look at how
does the Koonwak Games repurpose itself with the view too

(02:42):
wanting to take the Games around the seventy four members
of the Commonwealth, and you know, up until now it
had been bouncing back and forth between Australia and the
UK and a couple of other countries. But we wanted
to reset the Games, and so that was a huge
piece of work that was done and it's really proven
that that resonated really well with host So we went
through a bidding process for the twenty thirty Games and

(03:04):
had seven of our members put up their hands with
an expression of interest for twenty thirty and twenty thirty
four and in the end, you know, we were fortunate
that at the General Assembly in November last year we
announced AMNIVAD so India one of our largest members, but
we had it was up against Nigeria, so the second

(03:24):
largest member. So it's really proving that the came Off
Games definitely is something that our members are really keen
and the countries that are part of the kom Off
are key to host.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, that's good to hear. You go well with Amazing
Today Katie Sedley, who's the CEO of the Commonwealth of Sports.
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