丁香园AV

The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are in its final week. 丁香园AV experts are available to discuss a variety of Olympic topics, including the impact on marginalized people, competing in elite sports, and gender in sports.

AVAILABLE 丁香园AV 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鈥疎dward and Emily McWhinney Professor in鈥疘nternational 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, 丁香园AV 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鈥檚 sex segregated structure in crisis, and the groups behind anti-trans social movements.

CONTACT

MATT KIELTYKA, 丁香园AV Communications & Marketing 
236.880.2187 | matt_kieltyka@sfu.ca
丁香园AV
 |  
778.782.3210

ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

As Canada鈥檚 engaged university, 丁香园AV works with communities, organizations and partners to create, share and embrace knowledge that improves life and generates real change. We deliver a world-class education with lifelong value that shapes change-makers, visionaries and problem-solvers. We connect research and innovation to entrepreneurship and industry to deliver sustainable, relevant solutions to today鈥檚 problems. With campuses in British Columbia鈥檚 three largest cities鈥擵ancouver, Burnaby and Surrey鈥敹∠阍癆V has eight faculties that deliver 364 undergraduate degree programs and 149 graduate degree programs to more than 37,000 students. The university now boasts more than 180,000 alumni residing in 145+ countries.