Boris Johnson presents Lord Paul Deighton
2nd May 2013Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, paid tribute to Lord Paul Deighton at the BT Sport Industry Awards 2013 on Thursday night, handing him one of the night’s most prestigious Awards in recognition of his work as Chief Executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).
Johnson presented Deighton with the Leadership in Sport Award, sponsored by Quest, and spoke passionately about the former Goldman Sachs banker’s essential role in the most successful summer in the city’s sporting history.
“London’s Olympic and Paralympic Games were a triumph, securing gold not only in the sporting arena, but showing off the very best of Britain’s logistical skills to the world,” said Johnson.
“Paul Deighton was absolutely pivotal in the delivery of London’s historic summer, providing inspirational leadership to a team that pulled off what is the biggest organisational challenge any city will face. This required world-class commercial and organisational skills, which Paul has in abundance. This award is richly deserved.”
Deighton joined LOCOG in 2005 to take on the responsibility of preparing and staging London 2012. During more than six years as CEO he oversaw a workforce of 6,000 staff, 70,000 volunteers and 100,000 contractors as well as the procurement of £700 million-worth of contracts to help deliver the Games. He was also responsible for the sponsorship and marketing of the Games which included everything from ticketing to the Torch Relay, delivering the most successful sponsorship programme of any host city in history.
A visibly moved Deighton said: "London 2012 was the mother of all team efforts. I'm delighted to accept this Award on behalf of everyone who pulled together to make last summer so tremendous."
He added: "I would like to dedicate this Award to all the brilliant things that happened last summer. To me the most extraordinary were the volunteers. If anyone contributed to changing the way the rest of the world thought about this country it was those 70,000 Games Makers, so I dedicate this Award to them."
Prior to joining LOCOG, Deighton was the Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs in Europe. In January 2013 he took up the post of Commercial Secretary to the Treasury and entered the House of Lords.
The Leadership in Sport Award, sponsored by Quest, recognises the significant need for leadership within sport, rewarding the individual or individuals who have proven themselves the most in this regard.
The Official Partners of the BT Sport Industry Awards 2013 are Barclays, Deloitte and Eurosport.