After his appointment was announced yesterday, the former head of dusiness development at Puma will relocate from Boston in time to take up his new position on November 18 - less than three months before the Opening Ceremony in Sochi.

Preparing for the Games is "one of the first things he will get immersed in", although Sweeney is confident that the small time frame will not be a problem.

"Clearly one of the number one priorities is getting fully up to speed," he said.

"But preparations have gone extremely well so far - we have a great team of staff already involved and in terms of athletes we've probably got the strongest squad we've ever had."

He was also keen to downplay any possibility of a boycott of the Games due to the ongoing furore over supposedly anti-gay rights laws introduced into the Russian Parliament.

"In all the time I've been in sport professionally I've seen it as a force for good and for change," he argued.

"We can deliver positive messages by being there and competing so not being there would prevent that."

The Eve Muirhead skippered women's curling team will form part of one of the strongest ever Great Britain Winter squads at Sochi 2014


Sweeney's main focus however will be on continuing the BOA's commercial improvements in recent months.

He shrugged off questions about if the "horse has bolted" regarding commercial opportunities now that the London 2012 Olympics are over.

Out of all other potential Olympic venues, he argued, "you would hard pressed to find somewhere more commercially viable than Rio."

He also highlighted the opportunities surrounding youth provided by the second Youth Olympics to be held in Nanjing next summer, as well as the inaugural European Games in Baku in 2015.

Most of all however he described the more general attraction of Olympians and Olympic values which corresponds with those of many companies.

Sweeney hopes that the values put forward by athletes such as Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill will be attractive to many more potential commercial backers


He described how by being at "arm's length" during 2012 he was best able to take in the "tremendously positive reaction people had to British athletes".

This is "not just in terms of medals but in how they conduct themselves and what they did for the nation as a whole."

"All of our so called 'celebrity athletes' fall under the banner of one team with a clear definitive set of values," he said.

"Many brands will have a similar set of values which they want to market so our job concerns identifying who those partners could be and matching up our strategy with what they need to do to market their brand.

"Everybody likes a winning organisation and culture and that carries with it a commercial value."

To underline this point Sweeney used the example of someone he worked with very closely at Puma in Usain Bolt.

"Bolt is a one off in probably the blue ribbon event of athletics and he has the personality as well - people like him don't come along very often," he explained.

"He's very extrovert, very loud and there are a set of values which go along with that which work for some brands more than others."

"The same applies for Team GB."

Sweeney will use the experience he acquired at Puma working with athletes including Usain Bolt



This commercial focus, as well as strong management capabilities, was something put forward by BOA chairman Sebastian Coe when he was asked about the most important requirements of Sweeney's role.

"Five out of five on the appraisal would involve continuing to build a world class Olympic Committee," Coe explained.

"We have a monumental responsibility to take athletes on the last step of their Olympic journey so are looking for world class management and a settled commercial programme."

He will be heartened by Sweeney's vouching that he is in for the long term, which for a 55-year-old may well mean the rest of his career.

"At the moment I will focus on Sochi and then Rio," he said.

"But I have spent a lot of time in Japan and with the 2020 Olympics being awarded to Tokyo being involved there is certainly something I'd be very interested in."

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