Olympic chief Furlong addressed industry leaders at Abitibi luncheon during INK+BEYOND 2011

By John Devine
FOR THE PUBLISHER

It was a long, arduous climb to the summit of Olympic glory, national and international renown, and now speaker at the INK+BEYOND 2011 conference, but John Furlong says the rewards were well worth the effort.

"Somebody asked me, 'how on earth can you work for 14 years, from 4:30 in the morning to midnight every day?' Answer? I believed in it."

When he spoke to industry leaders at the conference's Abitibi luncheon, Furlong, former chief of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), related the story of the Winter Olympics that galvanized a nation, smashed records and expectations, and triumphed in the face of adversity.

It's a story that may resonate with an industry facing its own challenges and opportunities, he says.

"I think (for) the newspaper industry, where you are facing massive challenges and a changing world every day, we are a good example of an organization that was able to look at things differently."

An unabashed fan of Canada, Furlong has spent decades trying to live up to the challenge to contribute to the country an immigration officer gave him when he first arrived from Ireland in 1974, not intending to stay but fairly overwhelmed by what he found.

He seems to have taken the task to heart, demonstrating a patriotism and commitment to Canada and earning a number of accolades along the way. The Globe and Mail named him nation builder of 2010, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on July 1, last year, and in October, became a member of the Order of British Columbia.

In 2009, The Globe named him Canada's most influential sports figure, while in 2004 he was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame. In 2003, was named the sports executive of the year. The list goes on.

Furlong recounts the story of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics in his book, Patriot Hearts. He also talks of his love and admiration for the country, and of that now famous encounter with the immigration officer.

"When it happened I thought this was a common conversation a customs officer has with an incoming immigrant or visitor to the country, and I saw it as rational. A country like this is so big and so vast, how could it possibly succeed if everybody didn't make a contribution?"

He says he took it as a call to duty – that it's a privilege to call oneself a Canadian, but also a responsibility.

Canada, says Furlong, was more of an adventure than a permanent destination when he arrived to begin an athletic program at a Prince George, BC, school. He came from a country where "we thought we were the centre of the universe," and he fully expected to return. But he liked the opportunity the country presented, as well as its youth and sheer vastness.

"It was vast and young and exciting and it had a very futuristic outlook. The country was still evolving. I mean, there are doors in Dublin older than Canada."

The title of his book speaks in part to the patriotism the Games sparked across the country. That display was by design, not accident, says Furlong.

"The vision we had for the Games was that it needed to be beyond two weeks of sport, and it needed to be beyond building infrastructure and Olympic venues and tourism and jobs. It needed to have this very poignant human capacity to touch people and effect people where they worked and played."

To achieve that, an event to inspire and connect the nation was required, and found in the Olympic torch relay, says Furlong.

"I realized that in order for us to (succeed) we needed to go everywhere, we needed to be everywhere, we needed to make friends in every part of the country. We needed to take the Olympic flame down every highway and byway in the country. It was a very big job."

Although they ended on a high note, the Games began ominously, with technical glitches during the opening ceremonies, less than stellar weather conditions, and the tragic death of a Georgian luger, 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili.

"On the morning of the opening of the Games... I honestly thought the toughest decision I was going to have to make that day was what colour of tie I was going to wear to the opening ceremonies. We were well prepared.

"When that happened... it was the worst morning of my life. I was like my son had been killed. I was at first in disbelieve... and was quite unsure of myself, recognizing that I had a team – there were 50,000 people working hard to put on the Games, this has happened before the Games had started, (and) we're already way behind and people will look at every little thing that is happening now through a different lens, and they did."

Relatively minor problems became significant issues, such as the difficulty lighting the cauldron, which under normal circumstances would have been laughed off, says Furlong.

The early difficulties, says Furlong, included an excruciating wait for Canada to win its first gold of the Games, a result eagerly anticipated because of the much-touted Own The Podium program. When Alexandre Bilodeau carved his way to gold in men's moguls, Canadians, including Furlong, breathed a sigh of relief.

Olympic memories, good and bad, will stay with him forever, says Furlong, particularly the death of Kumaritashvili.

"I've been to that boy's home, I've sat on his bed, I've climbed up to the attic which was his room, I've hugged his parents, I was at the funeral. It's a tragedy that I personally will never get over. It was a very difficult thing for us."

The finale of the Games, the gold-medal match between Canada and the United States, was key to taking the Games from being a success to a moment of national celebration, says Furlong.

"I do believe the country would have viewed the Games as a great success anyway, but it gave us something else... and I do think it took the Games to another level."

Canadians, says Furlong, were uniquely special fans who never diminished others while cheering on their country and athletes.

"It was a magical finish and it was uniquely Canadian and I think, as Chuck Rogge (president of the International Olympic Committee) said after the Games, the Olympics can never go back from this."