On the Scene -- Miraflores Assumes Sport for All Mantle from Beijing

(ATR) Organizers of the 15th World Conference on Sport for All tell Around the Rings to mark the calendar – and build an appetite – for April 2013 in Miraflores, Peru.

"We have 11 hotels within walking distance of the convention center," says National Olympic Committee president Jose Quinones, raving about the coziness of the future host as well as the quality of its cuisine.

"It’s a beautiful beautiful city," adds Ivan Dibos, IOC member from Peru, clarifying that Miraflores (population 100,000) is in fact the most developed and most centrally located of 42 independent districts within the much larger metropolis of Lima.

Along with Quinones and Dibos, the mayor of Miraflores is also in Beijing for the 14th edition of the event he’ll help stage in less than two years. Jorge Munoz assumed the spotlight late Friday for a 10-minute teaser to his home town during the closing ceremony at China National Convention Center.

"Almost Dead"

Hours beforehand, the Peruvian pals sat down with ATR to talk about the when, where and why of their initial bid as well as how to ensure the country has its fair share of Sport for All activities to showcase when the IOC at last comes calling.

China’s been bragging all week about its many exercise initiatives, after all, and its successor has quite a ways to go to catch up.

"We are almost dead," jokes Quinones, recalling last year’s conference in Finland where he learned that Peru enjoys the dubious distinction of least active country in the world.

Only 28 percent of its population gets at least 30 minutes of daily physical activity, he cites.

"That was shocking."

Bidding Background

To make a long story short, Miraflores simply filled out a questionnaire, won hosting rights at the IOC session in Durban and was formally introduced as the 2013 host here in Beijing.

The long story’s much more interesting.

Its beginning centers around Quinones, who lobbied Peru’s many political parties in a recent presidential election to place public sport projects on their agendas.

"Only one did so," he remembers, "and they won."

The winning party had actually already adopted "Honesty in Sports" as a campaign slogan of sorts, but Quinones personally suggested "Sport for All" instead.

The new president then explicitly mentioned "Sport for All" in his first speech to the country, as did the prime minister in his first congressional address after the new government took shape.

"There is a nationalagenda now, for the first time in our history, where sport is a priority," says Quinones, "and that’s important."

The NOC president then directed his lobbying toward another politician, this time asking Munoz to take up the cause of Sport for All and bring the conference to Miraflores.

The mayor happily agreed, his only regret that he’ll never know which cities he beat out given the closed bidding process.

"We know we are the best," he says with pride.

Beijing or Bust

Thanks to Dibos, Munoz and of course Quinones, there are Peruvians a plenty here in Beijing this week, but the same cannot be said for South Americans in general and National Olympic Committees in particular.

"NOCs are thinking that the real task is not with recreational sport. It’s more with elite sport, and that’s not true,"explains Quinones.

"If you don’t help your country to have more people [exercising], then you will never have the elite, so we must help at all the levels."

The 15th World Conference on Sport for All will do exactly that for Peru, says Dibos, but Miraflores will in the meantime try to plan a regional spinoff to brainstorm ideas so that formal projects can be presented come 2013.

Sport for All Savings

According to the IOC member, physical activity is of paramount importance not only to individuals but also to their local as well as national governments.

For every one monetary unit of public money spent engaging children in sport, eight monetary units are saved down the road due to healthier – and better informed – citizens.

"That’s a statement that’s not from the IOC. It’s from the World Health Organization," says Dibos.

"We have the potential to really save our country a lot of money, and we would have a much healthier population. That’s something we talk about a lot. I always say that, but nobody listens, but you have to keep pushing and pushing and saying and saying."

Opening Ceremony Surprise

Munoz tells ATR delegates will be in for a treat in Miraflores – and doubly so if his plans for the opening ceremony pan out.

The mayor hints that Huaca Pucllana, a recently restored Incan ruin that could fit the usual conference crowd of about 700, would be perfect for the April 24 occasion.

"It’s a maybe," Munoz says.

Good food, he promises, is a definite.

Written in Beijing by Matthew Grayson.