Leila Thomas from Urban Synergy recently offered Maxine, Audrey and Taylor-Dior the chance to contribute in interviewing some young ambassadors about the legacy of the Olympic Park after the Olympic Games. Taylor-Dior was the interviewer, Audrey worked in the TV studio and Maxine noted down some points of the interview to help her write the article feature below. These three young ambassadors think that this was a great opportunity and useful experience to have, given their young age.
Inspiring the next generation of Olympians!
Since Great Britain won the bid to stage the Olympics in 2005 there have been many successful developments throughout the process which have stemmed from the hope to ‘inspire a generation’. In an attempt to fulfil this motto, Urban Synergy ambassador, Taylor-Dior interviews two individuals who were very much involved in the Olympics, Yuan Chen and Iain McKinnon, asking them what the lasting legacy of the Olympic Games will be for young people.
As a veteran member of the Legacy Youth Panel, Yuan explains that the aim of the youth panel is to plan and inspire the future of the Olympic park. She also shares the responsibilities she has, such as taking part in different community consultations and speaking to locals living in the host boroughs in order to provide feedback to the panel as to what the youth want to see happening with the Olympic park. Yuan also informs us of the annual free youth event where different schools are invited to attend, information about the youth panel is provided and where new members are often recruited.
Technology is a feature that could be used to benefit the park and those interested about latest news. The London Access Manager, Iain shares his team’s thoughts about possibly developing a downloadable app to help guide visitors around the park and providing details about the park through the use of social media. Yuan adds that the Youth Panel are active on both Facebook and Twitter in attempt to create a comfort bubble of ‘‘bringing the park to the people’’ and making sure that the youth have enough information to get involved.
Overall, we know that the London Olympics have been a great success especially with Team GB’s 29-gold winning record and the coaxing community spirit. However, whilst they, among many others, have been a great contribution to the Olympics, Yuan and Iain seem to be particularly impressed with the way the Paralympics has been informingly publicised and how the park was suitably designed for the able and less able athletes. It shows the time and effort that was put in to making these Olympics very special.
So, now that we have such accessibility to these sports programmes and the Olympic park itself, there really is no excuse not to get involved, so what are you waiting for? Inspire a generation!
Our thanks to the people at Thomson Reuters who kindly provided the facilities for producing this short interview, plus Yuan and Iain of the London Legacy Development Corporation
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLHOMjGvPbU
