People throughout the world are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment. Issues such as pollution, climate change and loss of biodiversity are leading to action at all levels of society — individuals are trying to reduce their waste, governments are tightening anti-pollution laws and signing international environmental treaties, and industries are developing more environmentally-friendly technologies and strategies. The sporting community too has become aware of the important link between sport and the environment.

What does environment have to do with sport?
There are three links between sport and the environment:

• First, large sporting events can have an impact on the host city's environment, causing problems such as pollution, large amounts of waste and damage to the natural environment. So it is in a host city's interest to try to minimise those impacts.
• Second, athletes need a healthy environment in which to train and perform, to reach their peak performance. So for the sake of athletic performance it is important to keep the environment — whether indoor, outdoor, countryside or city — as healthy as possible.
• Third, many sports take place in the natural environment — skiing, sailing, horse riding, mountain bike riding, rowing, to name a few. So to maintain and improve sporting opportunities it is important to conserve natural environments. Environment — the third pillar of Olympism.

The International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the world's best known sporting body. It recognises that a healthy global and local environment is fundamental to sport and so has made environment the "third pillar" of Olympism, along with sport and culture. Reflecting its leadership role, the IOC has established a Sport and the Environment Commission which has produced a manual on Sport and the Environment, and which conducts regional sport and the environment forums around the world. The IOC has also made environmental features an important requirement in a city's bid to host an Olympic Games.

Olympic Games Host Cities — Lillehammer, Atlanta and Nagano
The three most recent Olympic Games have all considered the environment in some way:

• The first Olympic Games to give the environment a high priority was the Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games, held in Norway in 1992, which was widely praised for its success in environmental management.
• In 1996 the Atlanta Organising Committee for the Olympic Games implemented a comprehensive waste management system.
• Organisers of the Nagano Winter Games in 1998 implemented numerous environmental measures in the areas of venue construction, waste reduction, environmentally-friendly uniforms and tableware, energy saving initiatives, tree planting and environmental education.

Sydney's commitment to the "green games"
Sydney was the first host city ever to include a comprehensive commitment to the environment as part of its Bid to host an Olympic Games. This commitment is contained in Environmental Guidelines , which formed part of the Bid. The Guidelines are based on the concept of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) and contain over 100 commitments in the five key performance areas of: energy conservation; water conservation; waste avoidance and minimisation; pollution management; and protection of significant natural and cultural environments.

This degree of attention to the environment led Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the IOC, to state that Sydney won its bid "partly because of the consideration given to environmental matters.

The legacy
The Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games will leave excellent environmental legacies for the Olympic Movement, for Sydney and for all of Australia.

• New environmental benchmarks against which future Games organisers can compare their own environmental performance.
• Increased community awareness about environmental issues, including the link between sport and environment.
• A greater capability to integrate environmental considerations into business due to new tools, knowledge and experience.
• State-of-the-art environmental design features in sports venues in Sydney.