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In the protracted process to win an Olympics bid, cities vie to demonstrate their ability to host international events. Accenture recently helped Chicago in its bid to host the 2016 Olympics by supporting the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) World Boxing Championships (WBC).
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The World Boxing Championship, a qualifying event for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, was held at Chicago's UIC Pavilion from October 23 to November 3, 2007. With only five months to organize an event normally requiring 24 months to plan and execute, the Chicago Olympic organizing committee turned to Accenture to help it deliver the championship on time and demonstrate the city’s ability to achieve high performance as a stager of world-class sporting events. In successfully staging the high-profile event at short notice, Chicago was able—with Accenture’s support—to demonstrate both its enthusiasm and its ability to host an Olympics-style competition on a grand scale.
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Accenture's role in the World Boxing Championship
Starting in May 2007, Accenture provided a team of five people that became the core of a larger integrated team with the task of delivering the largest world boxing championships. The Accenture team not only provided overall program management for the effort, but also took immediate ownership for designing, implementing and operating processes in many key areas including registration and housing of more than 1,400 athletes and delegates.
In a demonstration of technological versatility, Accenture adapted its interactive wall technology to communicate the global nature of the event and the Olympic movement in general. Working with Google, a team from Accenture Technology Labs created a wall display that highlighted the 110 countries and more than 550 boxers represented in the competition. Users were also able to zoom in on their homes around the world.
Doug Arnot, senior advisor to the World Boxing Championship and senior vice president for sports operations for the Chicago 2016 bid, praised Accenture's involvement: "For the World Boxing Championships, the four Accenture consultants and their leader, Scott Myers, became critical members of the event team. Each proved to be adaptive, bringing skills, energy, intellect and discipline to each task. They were essential to the development of the event. By event time, they had each become key managers of some of the most taxing areas of the operation. A great deal of the success of the World Boxing Championship can be attributed to the huge contributions of the Accenture Team."
More than 200 Accenture employees served as volunteers throughout the championship. In fact, Accenture employees represented almost 20 percent of all event volunteers. They served in a variety of roles, including hospitality, competition management, language translation, community outreach and technology support.
Accenture's ability to bring outstanding skills, experience and a collaborative attitude played a key part in the success of the event. At the end of the tournament, Ching-Kuo Wu, the president of the Amateur International Boxing Association, declared: "This tournament will go down as the greatest world championships in the history of the AIBA."
Dean Teglia, managing director of Accenture’s Chicago office, affirmed the importance of Accenture’s participation in civic initiatives of this nature: "It shows our commitment to and pride in Chicago, which enhances our reputation as a visible corporate citizen. I also am pleased to announce we have been invited to have a seat on the Chicago 2016 Committee."
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