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Tanni, Madelyn and Microsoft at the Commonwealth Games
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Tanni Grey-Thompson OBE, five times winner of the London Marathon, the first woman to complete the marathon in under two hours, winner of four Gold Medals at the Sydney Paralympics, and, more than anyone, the reason why elite disabled athletics became part of the mainstream in Manchester this summer. |
My month was made for me with an invitation from Microsoft to the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Microsoft's part in these games was much more than that of a major sponsor, and they made possible a real step change for "inclusion" in multi-sport events.
First, for our large American audience, what is the Commonwealth exactly? Why does it have games? And how come Microsoft were involved?
The Commonwealth is some 72 "nations", some very small, but between them having about a third of the world's population. Up to the '50s, a billion people were in the British Empire including India, Pakistan and most of Africa. Within a few years this was gone and almost all of these countries joined the Commonwealth. Many, like Australia, preserve the Queen as Head of State. What was once the Empire Games became the Commonwealth Games.
This is great for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (who all compete as separate nations) because you have the equivalent of the Olympic Games, but without the Americans, the Russians or the Germans winning everything! We still have the gifted and sport mad Australians who easily top the medals table and the joy of watching East African distance runners and the explosive sprinters from the Caribbean, where fifteen island nations are Commonwealth members.
Medals are also the key to Inclusion. Elite athletes with disabilities compete in events throughout the games (not afterwards when the media have gone home). These events are made of equal status by the simple device of a Unified Medals Table: the gold won by a Table Tennis player in a wheel chair counts exactly as much as the gold of any other player. This is as revolutionary as when, in 1981, the then Leader of the Greater London Council (now Mayor of London, Mr. Ken Livingston) allowed the launch of the first London Marathon provided disabled athletes could compete in the main event.
Manchester made a triumph out of organizing the Commonwealth Games, the largest sporting event ever to be staged in the United Kingdom. Two years before the organizers chose Microsoft to provide the information technology. Microsoft were surprised - big installations tend to pick alternative technologies. The British Microsoft team, led by Neil Holloway their UK Managing Director, made a great job of things. Neil told me that this was the first global multi-sport event ever to have unified technology across every discipline and venue. In the Microsoft marquee you could access every result as it happened on a Compaq iPaq and even take a live feed of your favourite event. Truly amazing.
For those of us as interested in accessibility and inclusion as well as sport it was a great opportunity to meet Microsoft's Director of Accessibility (and fellow ATIA Board Member), Madelyn Bryant McIntire who made a great deal of time to meet key folk from the British Assistive Technology industry. Despite an early call for a flight home at the end of a packed schedule Madelyn made time to meet us late into the night and showed a welcome appreciation for Imperial (20 ounce) pints of warm British Ale. We were impressed!
Martin Littler: ATIA Board Director, Europe