Two teams join forces for the World Heavyweigtht Championships.
Aided twenty years of experience, the Business Solutions teams contributed all their know-how alongside the organizing team for the World Heavyweight Championships.
From November 5 to 13, 2011, Disneyland® Paris hosted this sporting event over a period of 9 days.
The event benefited from all the advantages offered by Europe’s leading integrated site for business tourism. The first plus point for a world sporting event was of course the venue’s accessibility. The 1,200 participants (including 700 athletes) and over 15,000 spectators came from 118 countries, and were able to reach their destination via the on-site Eurostar/TGV station, which links the venue to Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport in just 10 minutes. The hotel offering 8,200 rooms* in 14 hotels was able to accommodate all the participants on site.
The programme began with the annual convention of the presidents of the IWF (International Weightlifting Federation) delegations. This plenary session was held in the Disney’s Newport Bay Club® Convention Centre. The opening phases then took place inside the Portland area, transformed into a training zone, before moving to the Dome Disney® Village, where the last warm-ups and the competition itself were staged.
These championships were the qualifying competitions for the 2012 Olympics in London. Certain members of the Olympic Games organizing committee also attended in order to observe the preparation of this sporting event and draw inspiration from best practices in event management. Indeed, the World Heavyweight Federation was able to make the most of Business Solutions’ experience in large-scale sports events management. For its part, Business Solutions benefited from the international attention the World Championship draws.
Common values and a shared goal: putting on a great performance!
In keeping with all sporting events – and every show at Disneyland® Paris – the heavyweight championship involved a complete set-up of its own. The 2 300 m2 event venue was open to the public (there was also a third VIP tent) and completely transformed in order to host the competition. The flexibility of the teams and modular infrastructures demonstrated the full extent of our organizational abilities.
Business Solutions is keen to host other sporting events in the future. The team has built up a tradition of organizing events like these – including stages of the Tour de France and various athletics competitions. After all, we have many values in common: leisure, exchanges, excellence, respect, and team spirit – as well as the desire to create shared experience and an emotion-packed performance! We are continuing to work hard at maintaining our close collaboration with the various sports federations and institutions, as well as the French Sports Ministry.
* including 5,800 rooms in the 7 Disney® Hotels.
