Last June 2019, between the 14th and 23rd, the first African Beach Games were held on the magical island of SAL, in the Republic of Cape Verde. The games were attended by 54 National Olympic Committees from the African continent, approximately 1000 athletes, and 11 sports, including an exhibition sport, Teqball.
A day before the competition started, we received a request to include Teqball in the Results platform and the APP of the games, giving it the same level as an official sport in the programme. Bornan made its slogan count in this circumstance: While other brands say, “this can’t be done”, Bornan is already doing it.
Bornan Sport Technology was the official technology service provider for the games. These services were: Games Management Platform, including (Accreditations, Access Control, Sport Registration and Classification), Timing and Timekeeping Systems, Scoring and Results. In addition, an online platform was developed to show in real time the results of all the modalities in competition. Content was developed to be shown on the competition’s video scoreboards.
Bornan Online Web Results designed for SAL2019
Moreover, an APP was developed for the games on Android (the most widely used system on the continent) and all the graphics for television were produced for being used by the television stations in charge of broadcasting the event, both in traditional format for television and in streaming to be distributed on the Olympic Channel platform.
Beach Tennis Competition for instance TV Graphics
Altogether it was about a year’s work of planning, capturing, helping to map and identify the needs in the area of Local Organising Committee Technology, assembling and designing the service package, with the premise of providing the games’ customers (Organising Committee, Athletes, Volunteers, Olympic Committees, Continental Federations, Press, Fans, etc.) with the best possible experience.
Pablo de Castro, CTO of Bornan, performing the integration of the TV Graphics.
As has become a tradition in the events in which Bornan Sport Technology participates, at the end of the games, we donated an accreditation printing set to the Cape Verde Olympic Committee, which was used in the printing of part of the credentials for the games. This set, together with the lanyards, was our modest material contribution to the delivery of these games on the African continent. In aggregate, more than 3000 people were accredited, including athletes, officials, volunteers, staff, security support personnel, transport, medical services, and so on.
Besides to the normal challenges of a sporting project of this nature, there were challenges in the logistical area, as it was the first time that Cape Verde was hosting a game of this scale. The transport of technological equipment back and forth from the Bornan offices in Madrid to the Beach Park in Santa Maria was another example of the LOC and Bornan staff working together. It was a successful logistics operation between two continents with a volume of more than 200 kg of fragile technology. Besides the normal challenges of a sporting project of this nature, there were challenges in the logistical area, as it was the first time that Cape Verde was hosting games of this scale. The transport of technological equipment back and forth from the Bornan offices in Madrid to the Beach Park in Santa Maria was another example of the LOC and Bornan staff working together. It was a successful logistics operation between two continents with a volume of more than 200 kg of fragile technology.
Part of the Bornan Team in the days before the Inauguration Ceremony
About the games, Ariel Valdés (Bornan Business and Development Director) said: “In my opinion, the key factor for the success of these games was the excellent communication between the Local Organising Committee and Bornan. The LOC was always open to collaborate, to listen, and to analyse the opinions of both sides. It was very easy to work together as we had a common goal, to deliver the games with the highest possible standard of quality and excellence”.
Yann Craven, CEO of the SAL2019 Organising Committee, said: “The vision of the Organising Committee of the First African Beach Games Sal 2019 is that thanks to Bornan we were the first multi-sport event in Africa to use a fully integrated, cloud-based Games and Results Management system across all areas of the organising committee. This is a standard usually reserved for the Olympic Games. The bespoke systems created by Bornan for our games were state-of-the-art and among the best in the market. However, what really separates Bornan from its competitors is the human capital to complement the technology. From the beginning to the end of the games, the Bornan team worked side by side with the Organising Committee to overcome challenges, find solutions and deliver a unique experience for athletes, spectators and broadcasters that was truly world class and certainly a first for Africa.”
The result of the project, after many hours of planning, development, control and impeccable execution: “The bar has been raised for future editions of continental games in Africa, not only for beach games, but for all kinds of sporting events…”. These were the concluding words said to Roberto Garcia (Bornan CEO) by the top leaders of sport on the African continent.
About the event Roberto himself has declared: “I think that both on the part of the organising committee, being the first edition of a beach games in Africa and being on an island, as well as the service provided by our Bornan team, we have shown that, with a very tight budget, it is possible to make a very high-tech event where a legacy is given to the organising committee and the NOC. Once again, I am proud of the Bornan staff who did an excellent job at SAL for their dedication and of the people from the Madrid and Lausanne offices who collaborated to make this a great event…”.
We could not close the article on the SAL2019 Games, without thanking the kind and hospitable people of Cape Verde, who hosted us for almost a month, the volunteers who ran dozens of kilometres on the beach to make the games possible. A special thanks to the athletes, we work every day to try to show with technology the brilliance they sparkle on the field of play. To the Organising Committee and the Cape Verde Olympic Committee, especially its president and IOC Member Filomena Fortes, for their trust and unconditional support to achieve success.