Baku 2015: The Brit looking to bring London 2012 magic to Azerbaijan

In his role as one of the early architects of London 2012, the sands of time were a constant reminder of the magnitude of the task ahead.

The deadline for Clegg has shifted event and nation with the inaugural European Games in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. 

Clegg is the event’s chief executive and tasked with delivering what are, in essence, the continent’s answer to the Olympics.

With London, there were seven years from the historic day in Singapore that the capital was awarded the Games. For Baku, the countdown since being awarded these Games as the sole bidder has been a mere 30 months.

"It’s been exceptionally busy but you’d expect that,” said Clegg, surprisingly calm on the eve of the event, Baku’s first chance to place itself on the sporting map. "It’s incredibly exciting, demanding and challenging.

"It’s the inaugural Games so we’re making history here. That’s incredibly exciting and means that we don’t have to carry the baggage of what went before.”

It remains to be seen quite how the Games take off or whether they make it into the psyche of the wider British public — television audiences can watch the duration on BT Sport.

But Clegg is brimming with confidence that the European Games are here to stay: "This is the Big Bang moment for the European Games.”

There is competition from a rival Games — the European Sports Championships set to be co-hosted by Glasgow and Berlin in 2018 combining athletics, cycling and swimming among others.

However, the next European Games have already been inked in for four years’ time.

But as well as putting the Games on the sporting map, Clegg is also tasked with doing the same for Baku, which bid to host the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.

Both bids proved unsuccessful but it is thought they are using the European Games to prove their ability to host the ultimate multi-sport event.

Whether there are plans for Azerbaijan to put forward a candidate to host either the 2024 or 2028 Olympics remains to be seen.

Clegg said: "It’s well known that Baku twice bid for the Olympics but did not get through to the candidate stage.

"As for any future aspirations, if they have them, they have not been shared with me.”

The Games are just one part of Baku’s plan to use sport to promote itself. Next year it is staging its inaugural Formula One grand prix and the country will also be hosting Euro 2020 pool matches and a quarter‑final. Clegg said: "This puts Baku on the sporting map but not just that. It’s a young and dynamic country and it’s only 32 years old so this is putting Azerbaijan as a whole on the world map.”

Clegg is overseeing around 2,000 full-time staff, many of them like him ex-pats, as well as an estimated 10,000 volunteers and 20,000 contractors.

It is, he says understatedly, "a big organisation” but it is a role he has relished since a brief stint in what he calls lightheartedly "the dark side of football” as chief executive of Ipswich Town.

So how does he expect Baku and the Games to be received?

"I think people will come here thinking this is not a country I knew very much about,” he said.

"Secondly they’ll think this isn’t what they expected in this part of the world.

"I hope they will take very fond memories from their time in this country.”

 

(standard.co.uk)