Q&A: Dr Philippe Verveer, International Olympic Committee - January 2005  

In December 2004, Dr Philippe Verveer stepped down as director of technology at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a position he has held since 1999. Before passing the baton to Jean-Benoît Gauthier, he spoke to S&T about the challenges he has faced in his role at the world’s highest-profile sports organisation over the last five years, as well as at previous major sports events.

Philippe Verveer obtained his PhD in Electronics from the University of Paris, France in 1966. He then joined IBM France as a system engineer and worked there for 16 years before taking up the position of information technology director with the French subsidiary of the Gillette Company. In 1988, he was recruited by the Organising Committee for the 16th Winter Olympic Games 1992 in Albertville, France, as head of information technology. From 1993 to 1998, he was the information technology director for the French Organising Committee of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, before joining the IOC in 1999.

What have been your main responsibilities as director of technology for the IOC?

“I have had two main responsibilities in my role. Firstly, in respect of running the technology for the IOC headquarters and museum in Lausanne. Secondly, I was responsible for defining the technology strategy for the Olympic Games. These were two very distinct responsibilities. In respect to the Games, it was my role to understand how technology is critical to their success. Without technology, it is not possible to organise a successful games. To promote the Olympic ideal, you need technology everywhere. It is at the heart of the Games and is extremely complex. You need timing systems, systems for the media, VIPs and general public, information systems, telecoms infrastructure, and videoboards and so on. My goal was to eliminate risk and control the cost as well as working closely with the long-term technology partners for the Games – ATOS Origin, Swatch, Panasonic, Kodak, Xerox and Samsung. Transferring systems for Games to Games was a goal because we did not want to reinvent the wheel or take too much risk in such a high profile area.”

What have been the greatest challenges that you have faced in your role at the IOC?

“Each Games is different and has different venues and therefore each Games presents new challenges. Technology is so visible – one small thing going wrong could provoke a major disaster. What for me is a special challenge about the Olympics is that you have to be ready on time. For us, the start date and time for our project has been decided years in advance. We are never in a position where we can say we are two days behind, because the eyes of the world are on us. The second challenge is the installation of the 12,000 PCs, 900 servers etc that are needed for the Games – often at the last minute. If buildings or venues are late being built – which of course was a problem in Athens – then this has an impact because we have to install our systems at the last minute. It all needs careful and good planning and testing. The latter is particularly important, with test events needed a year prior to the Games with the federations and then three months prior with technical rehearsals at the venues. Volunteers need to be co-ordinated and trained in understanding the system configurations in plenty of time.”

How have Olympic Games’ technology needs changed over the last few years?

“We need proven technology for the Games because it is critical to their success. However, technology does evolve and we don’t want to be left behind either. It’s therefore a constant balancing act between utilising reliable systems and harnessing new technology. The internet for example is now critical to the success of the Games whereas during Atlanta 1996 it had a very small role. Over the 16 days of the 2004 Athens Olympics, our website attracted 31m unique users and the infrastructure we needed to support that was therefore extremely important. People want to access our data in realtime. During Athens we trailed a realtime results system to our stakeholders over PDAs in partnership with Samsung and the Games’ local mobile sponsor. We want to make sure a system like that works before we offer it to the general public. We also experimented with internet video and data distribution during Athens over cable to a group of users in Holland and also in Switzerland during Salt Lake 2002.”

With that in mind, do you ever envisage a truly online Games?

“One day. Although that is really a matter for the broadcasting rights holders to address. A challenge of course is to protect their territories so that video images aren’t available online to their own television viewers due to the large sums of money they have paid for their rights. However, with technology changing and becoming more sophisticated, our strategy may also change one day.”

How are preparations progressing for Torino 2006 and Beijing 2008?

“Torino is now so close it is practically tomorrow. Tests are therefore starting now. Most of our systems are already ready and we are in good shape. We visit the Torino Organising Committee every month and if there are any concerns whatsoever with that particular Games, they are certainly not related to technology. We can imagine that Beijing will be ready on time in terms of venues and testing but of course each Games has new challenges and are complex to organise. Today, we don’t have too many concerns relating to Beijing but I am sure that nearer the time there will be challenges. However, the Chinese are concentrating on making sure they provide a good Games and they understand technology well. With partners such as ATOS and Swatch on their side, I am confident that the technology will be a great success there.”

How important are your relationships with the broadcasters?

“We work very closely with the host broadcasters for the Olympics and have worked with Manolo Romero for years. [Romero has been involved in running the host broadcasting operations of the Olympic games since Los Angeles 1984 as well as World Cup Soccer in the US in 1994 and in Spain in 1982]. We have meetings with the Olympics host broadcaster every month as well as all our technology partners and Romero works as part of our team and we share issues. Teamwork is essential in delivering a successful Games.”

What would be your main advice to Jean-Benoît Gauthier, your successor as director of technology at the IOC?

“I have worked with Jean-Benoît for many years and I have shared all my files and knowledge with him so that he is completely ready to take over from me. He has already been managing all the technology needs for Beijing for the last three years and has run all the meetings for that Games, as well as being the main contact for Torino. He will bring his own views into the role as well as new ideas and I am sure he will be extremely successful.”

And finally, what’s next for you?

“Perhaps a consulting role because I have spent many years working with technology – nearly 40 years. The IOC has been a very good organisation to work for because of the spirit and ideas behind the Olympic movement. My experience with all the people here – both old and new – has been fantastic. I have experienced great emotions and I will always remember my time here with happiness.”

See also this month's Infostrada Sports Databox for more Olympic Games-related facts.

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