This is John Quayle, my boss for four years at the Sydney Olympics and Paralympics (1996-2000). I have studied and taught leadership development for the last twenty years--but I never learned as much as I did from John (3 September 2020). John was the General Manager, Venues and Precincts Operations during this time.

John, a former Rugby League player, had been CEO of the Australian Rugby League since 1983 when he joined our Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Roy Masters of the Sydney Morning Herald, has just written about John last month (22 August 2020) proclaiming that "he is one of the greatest sporting administrators Australia has seen."

In this interview, John and I reminisce about the planning we did alongside the 40 Venue Managers who ran all of the competition venues -- integrating forty venues across 28 sport during 16 September-1 October, 2000 for the Olympics and 18-29 October, 2000, for the Paralympics.

We look at what made our venues and precincts work so well -- and why the planning and implementation for the Sydney Games had such a profound influence on the last nine Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Please enjoy.