Sir Craig Reedie

A key figure in bringing the 2012 Olympic Games to Great Britain will deliver a free public lecture at the University of Lincoln on the secrets behind the successful London bid.

The lecture will be given by Sir Craig Reedie at 6.00pm (5.30pm registration), on Tuesday 14th June 2011 at the EMMTEC Lecture Theatre, Brayford Pool campus.

Sir Craig Reedie CBE was a leading member of the London 2012 Bid Team which won the right to host the Olympic Games in London and is now a Non-Executive Director of the London Organising Committee.

He will give a guest lecture entitled ‘The London Olympic Games – Third Time Lucky’ at the University of Lincoln on Tuesday 14th June 2011. The talk, part of the University’s Lincoln Academy series of free cultural events, will take place at 6pm in the EMMTEC lecture theatre on the main Brayford Pool campus.

Next year London will become the only city in the world to have hosted the Olympic Games three times, having fulfilled the honour in 1908 and 1948.

Sir Craig said: “The London Olympic project is one of the largest, most demanding and potentially exciting projects in Britain for many years. The original bid intended to put Olympic sport up the social and political agenda and this has most certainly been achieved. I am looking forward to returning to the University of Lincoln and discussing the project in greater detail.”

Sir Craig has enjoyed a long career in Sports Administration. A former President of the Scottish Badminton Union and the International Badminton Federation he was responsible for the admission of his sport to the Olympic Programme in 1985.

In 1992 he became Chairman of the British Olympic Association and led the organisation through the Olympic Games of Atlanta, Sydney and Athens and the Olympic Winter Games of Lillehammer, Nagano and Salt Lake City.

He became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1994 and has served on many different IOC Commissions including the Evaluation Commissions of 2001 and 2009, the Co-ordination Commissions for the Games in Athens and Beijing, the Marketing Commission, the Programme Commission and the Ethics Commission.

He was elected as a member of the IOC Executive Board in October 2009, the first appointment from Britain since 1961.  He is also Chairman of the Finance and Administration Committee and a member of the Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He became a Board member of the Olympic Lottery Distributor in 2006.

Educated at Stirling High School and Glasgow University he has also held other sports appointments including membership and Deputy Chairmanship of UK Sport. For many years he was Senior Partner in the Glasgow Firm of Financial Advisers D.L.Bloomer and Partners.

Admission to Sir Craig Reedie’s Lincoln Academy lecture is free but guests must register attendance in advance as spaces are limited. To book, call the University of Lincoln’s Events Team on 01522 837100 or email events@lincoln.ac.uk or register here.