The Real Winner of the Rio Olympics: The Global Community

Last week, I had the chance to travel to Rio de Janeiro, and attend the opening of the Summer Olympic Games. This was a great privilege for me, and one that I’d looked forward to for months. But my enthusiasm for the Games goes beyond the opportunity to watch the world’s best athletes compete on the world’s biggest stage, or tracking medal counts—though those are obviously part of the attraction!

Instead, what I love above all about the Olympics is that they function as a celebration of the connections that unite the global community. That’s the founding ideal of the Olympic Movement, and the purpose of the International Olympic Committee- a better world through sport.

In today’s uncertain and volatile world, that purpose is as important as any time in recent memory. 

The fact that the International Olympic Committee felt it appropriate to create a Refugee Olympic Team to represent the tens of millions of displaced persons around the world in these Games tells us all we need to know about the uncertainty in our current state of global affairs.

Terrorism, geopolitical instability, and economic fragility have created fear, anger, and insecurity across the globe. All over the world, people are understandably worried about their families’ futures. Their faith in a connected, cooperative world is waning. And in some places, they’re starting to turn away from the rest of the world, as calls for isolation, cloaked in nationalism, grow louder.

And that is exactly why these Olympic Games are particularly meaningful and important right now.

Amid all the discord, these Games are a chance to bring the whole world together—at least for a couple of weeks.  

No matter how fractured the world may seem, we’re reminded that we are – and must be – a global community linked by a global economy. Our world will always work better when we connect across continents to grow and succeed, together.

What challenges do we share? And what are the big questions we haven’t thought of yet?

That’s why all of us at EY are so proud to play a part in this year’s Games as the exclusive professional services provider for Rio 2016. Because those values of global connection – of finding ways to grow and succeed together – are also at the heart of what we do at EY.

Every day, we ask ourselves: What can we do better? How can we help businesses operate globally, compete digitally, train intelligently, and grow sustainably? How can we build a stronger, more inclusive, more resilient global economy?

Most importantly of all: What challenges do we share? And what are the big questions we haven’t thought of yet?

This was the approach we brought in Rio, with more than 300 professionals working around the clock to help with dozens of strategic projects to make these Olympic Games a success.

Through initiatives like our Rio Legacy Volunteer Program, EY professionals have been working alongside NGOs for the past six months, focused on education, development, and major transition for people around the world for inclusive growth.

With the Women Athletes Business Network, we are harnessing the incredible leadership potential of retired female elite athletes – hiring athletes from the Rio games and helping them make successful transitions into the business world.  

And we were incredibly proud to partner with the World Olympians Association to host the Olympians Reunion Centre, a networking hub for Olympians from all generations and all nations. They’ll be able to recall old rivalries, and form new friendships, creating a link between these Olympics and all the Games that came before. In that way, the Reunion Centre is a manifestation—and celebration—of legacy.

Yet beyond the role we’ve been honored to play in putting on the Games themselves, we are equally proud to contribute to the social and environmental legacy they will leave behind: the foundation for future growth and prosperity in Rio.

Long after the closing ceremony, Rio residents and visitors will continue to enjoy the fruits of investments in urban infrastructure, along with social and cultural offerings, that helped make these Games possible. The upgraded airport capacity will make traveling to and from the city easier, while new metro lines and dedicated express bus lanes will improve getting around.

The Future Arena that holds handball matches this month will be reassembled as classrooms for four new schools.

The city will adapt many of the Games’ venues for mixed use, too. Barra Park will become an Olympic training facility, while Deodoro Park will become one of the city’s largest public parks. The Future Arena that holds handball matches this month will be reassembled as classrooms for four new schools around the city.

Perhaps by the time the students who attend those schools are grown up, some of them will be among the next generation of Brazil’s Olympians. Maybe they will be business leaders and entrepreneurs who start companies of their own. And hopefully, at least a few of them will come to work at EY!

That is the legacy that these Games will leave behind in Rio. And for the rest of the planet, these Games demonstrate, once again, how local communities, of all sizes, all over the world, stand to benefit when the global community comes together in common cause. As we survey the global challenges we’ll face in the years ahead, it’s clear we need this spirit of unity more than ever right now.

EY Brazil is Sponsor of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and official professional services provider to the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee.

This blog originally appeared on ey.com/betterworkingworld