2024 Paris Summer Olympics: SFU experts available

In less than a month, the 2024 Olympic Games kickoff in Paris. As Canadian athletes prepare to compete on the world stage, SFU experts are available to discuss a variety of Olympic topics, including the threat of terrorism, the displacement of marginalized people, and the lack of air conditioning in the Olympic village.

AVALIABLE SFU EXPERTS

AIR CONDITIONING / SUMMER HEAT

STEPHANIE CLELAND, assistant professor, Legacy for Airway Health Chair in Promotion of Lung Health 
stephanie_cleland@sfu.ca
Expertise: Lack of air conditioning in the Olympic Village, strategies for athletes to reduce heat exposure, health impacts of heat and air pollution.

TERRORISM / GLOBAL UNREST

JAMES HORNCASTLE, assistant professor, The Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations
jhorncas@sfu.ca
Expertise: Potential terrorist threats to the Summer Games and the potential impact of the Ukraine and Gaza wars.

DISPLACEMENT

MELORA KOEPKE, postdoctoral researcher, co-investigator of SSHRCC grant looking at the impact of major sporting events on marginalized people in Paris and Vancouver 
melora_koepke@sfu.ca
Expertise: Impact of Olympic Games on marginalized people who depend on public space, encampments, strategies to mitigate displacement and dispossession, legal rights of marginalized people. She can also speak about her SSHRCC grant, which convened week-long knowledge exchanges in Vancouver and Paris, so that marginalized people with lived experience from the 2010 Games could share their experiences with community organizations in France. Lessons from Paris 2024 for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Vancouver.

MARKETING

LINDSAY MEREDITH, professor emeritus, marketing 
meredith@sfu.ca
Expertise: Olympic marketing, branding and how companies and governments use the Olympics to achieve their own goals, how decisions by the International Olympic Committee and politicians impact the Olympic brand.

ATHLETICS

BRIT TOWNSEND, head coach, SFU track and field and cross-country 
btownsen@sfu.ca
Expertise: A former Olympian in the 1,500m, Canadian national team coach and former Canadian record holder in seven events, Brit can comment on athletics and athletes in high-level track-and-field competitions, athlete training, as well as the mind-set, training and approach of elite athletes, and challenges that athletes might face.

GENDER AND SPORT

TRAVERS, professor, sociology
atravers@sfu.ca
Expertise: Women in sports, impact of Olympic Games, transgender athletes, the flawed science around female eligibility and sexual dimorphism, modern sport’s sex segregated structure in crisis, and the groups behind anti-trans social movements.

CONTACT

JEFF HODSON, SFU Communications & Marketing 
jdhodson@sfu.ca

Simon Fraser University
Communications & Marketing | SFU Media Experts Directory
778.782.3210

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