Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Post - Athens, OH
The independent newspaper covering campus and community since 1911.
The Post

Copeland Hall houses the College of Business.

OU Sports Administration chair to serve major role on Canada's 2016 Paralympic team

The chair of Ohio University's Sports Administration department helped lead the Canadian Paralympic team into Rio de Janeiro's Marcana Stadium on Wednesday night, as the Deputy Head of the Canadian team.

Norm O'Reilly, an internationally-recognized sports administrator from Canada, will stay in the Olympic Village with his country’s team for the next two weeks “representing (the team) to the best of his abilities,” Luke Sayers, OU’s Associate Director of the Professional Master in Sports Administration, said.

“There is literally no bigger opportunity than to represent your country inside an Olympic setting,” Sayers said.

O’Reilly is not the first member of OU's Sports Administration department to be a major player on the Olympic sidelines.

More than five OU graduates worked this summer in Rio for GMR Marketing, a sports marketing company that partnered with Procter & Gamble to provide Olympic athletes and their families with hair care, nail care and other salon services during the games this summer.

Annie Brackley, assistant director of Career Management for the Sports Administration program, managed Procter & Gamble’s salons for 30 days in Rio while working for GMR.

“We are the number one sports administration program in the world,” Brackley said.

She said the school's international reputation has helped OU graduates acquire jobs in Olympic settings. OU’s Master of Sports Administration program was named the best in the world by SportBusiness International for two years in a row, adding to the four times total it has been ranked number one in the past five years.

O'Reilly also attended the London 2012 Olympic Games to conduct research.

Hugh Sherman, dean of the OU College of Business, said O'Reilly's interest in the Olympic Games comes from a place of “being a competitive athlete himself, and wanting to help others compete, as well.”

@hopiewankenobe

hr503815@ohio.edu

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2016-2024 The Post, Athens OH