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REMARKS BY:      DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN  
                     SERVICES
PLACE:           The Third IOC World Congress of Sports Science  
                 Atlanta, Georgia 
DATE:            September 21, 1995

I am pleased to be here in a world class city that richly deserves to host the final summer Olympics of this century.

I want to thank the Atlanta Committee on the Olympic Games for inviting me to speak to this distinguished group.

On behalf of President Clinton, I'd like to extend a special welcome to our international guests.

We are truly honored to have the opportunity once again to invite the world into our country next year for these prestigious Games.

In case any of you are still recruiting athletes, let me put in a plug for the President's Cabinet:

Working in a tough town like Washington these days is great training for the steeplechase -- although I have to say I was 6 feet tall before I came to D.C.

We are less than a year from bringing the Olympic Torch to this great city.

And with each new Olympiad there is always the opportunity to reflect back and remember the great moments of the past.

Whether you are old enough to remember Jesse Owens flying past the finish line on the way to four golds in the 1936 Games in Berlin in front of an angry Adolf Hitler or too young to remember how Olga Korbut transformed the sport of gymnastics in 1972 . We all have indelible memories of the amazing feats great athletes can perform when they are well-trained and highly-motivated.

But the Olympic spirit is not just about winning -- it's about competing.

It's about doing your best.

It's about the dignity of hard work.

It's about making new friendships across international lines.

And it's about the importance of discipline and good health.

These are critical values not just for the Daley Thompson's and the Jackie Joyner Kersee's among us but for all members of our global family -- no matter where we live and how old we are.

Physical fitness plays a central role in keeping us healthy. Exercise doesn't just keep us looking good, it keeps us feeling good.

As medical and health scientists, and as public health professionals, we all know the critical importance of fitness and nutrition in preventing serious illnesses before they occur.

And yet, as we look around our planet, it is clear that too many people are dangerously inactive , dangerously overweight, and dangerously reluctant to do anything about it.

And these trends have tragic consequences.

Out of the 2.2 million annual deaths in this country, more than 800,000 are preventable -- and much of the time prevention means getting off the couch, cutting down the calories, and giving up smoking.

And The World Health Organization's first annual survey of global health reports that all the leading killers worldwide are preventable illnesses.

Heart disease ranks at the top of this deadly list.

In 1993 alone, heart disease and chronic pulmonary disease together accounted for more than 7 million deaths worldwide.

We need to tell citizens around the globe that this is no Yellow Brick Road to good health.

We need to tell them that this is the wrong road, the back road -- a one-way path to diminished potential and diminished lives.

How many lives can we save in the coming years if we can get more world citizens to trade sedentary lives for active ones?

We know that regular exercise wards off serious illnesses like heart disease and diabetes.

We know that women and men who improve their physical fitness reduce their mortality risk significantly.

And, for teenagers, we know that playing sports helps young people make safe passage through adolescent years that are almost universally difficult -- from culture to culture and country to country.

So I come here today with the determination of the legendary Babe Didriksen to ask all of you to join me in a special training regimen.

Let's grab hold of the Atlanta Games to wake up the world to the importance of fitness and exercise.

We have enormous assets in our world-class athletes:

Just a fraction of what they do to take care of themselves can make a significant difference for most of us.

Maybe we'll never have the strength of hurdler Gayle Devers, or the stamina of Paavo Nurmi, the so-called "Flying Finn" who won nine track and field golds from 1920 to 1928.

But we can be healthy and fit like them.

In 1996, young and not-so-young people all across the planet will idolize and imitate our athletes. Because of their Olympic feats children will aspire to go for the gold, parents will aspire to put on their jogging shoes again .

Seniors will aspire to pick up new sports , everything from kayaking to karate.

The Olympians can be international messengers -- human billboards for physical fitness.

Make no mistake, in the past great athletes have done a lot to teach the global community about health -- but too often the most widely-reported examples are tragedies and not triumphs.

I'm thinking of Steve Prefontaine, the brilliant Olympic runner who died in an alcohol related car crash . I'm thinking of Len Bias, who died in a cocaine overdose that shocked the world .

But I'm also thinking of the triumphs of Olympians Magic Johnson and Greg Louganis, living bravely with HIV/AIDS and educating the world.

Atlanta gives us an historic opportunity to change our citizens' behavior for the better -- without all the pain and anguish that comes with the story of a fallen heroine or hero.

And to do that, we need to embrace five key challenges -- five strategies which, like the five Olympic rings, interlock into a greater whole.

Ring number one: We must keep our research running shoes on.

Just fifteen years ago, MRI technology was largely confined to the practice of sports medicine. Today, that same technology once used to detect injuries in athletes is being used more often to pinpoint cancerous tumors in citizens all over the world.

Because of your work, we continue to unlock the scientific mysteries of good health. But clearly we need to do even more.

We need you to continue your cutting edge work in sports medicine and sports science...

...so that we can give all citizens -- not just elite athletes -- the information they need to navigate down the road of healthy living.

Ring number two: Let's bring the spirit of Beijing to Atlanta.

All over the world, sports is still overwhelmingly marketed as a pastime "for men only" -- and that's dead wrong.

From Katarina Witt to Bonnie Blair, many of this century's greatest athletes -- and greatest heroes -- have been women.

In Beijing, we told the world that equality for women is a human right -- a fundamental right.

Women of all ages must be given the opportunity to reach for the gold -- not only at our Olympic stadiums, but in our schools, on our playgrounds, and in our communities around the globe.

It's the right thing to do -- and it's also the smart thing to do.

For example, in the United States, teenage girls who participate in sports are 92 percent less likely to get involved in drug use; 80 percent less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy; and three times more likely to graduate from high school.

Those are powerful statistics -- statistics that should catapult us into action -- and I bet they hold true in most other countries as well.

And that brings me to ring number three: Promoting fitness must be part of a larger health strategy.

Together, we must send a message of global health -- and that's about much more than good fitness.

Because all over the world; more than 780 million people suffer from chronic hunger; more than one billion people are sentenced to live in poverty; and nearly 15 million children worldwide die each year, mostly from preventable illnesses.

And, that's an international tragedy.

From clean water to good nutrition, from smoking to drug use, and from domestic violence to lack of access to basic health care.

We face major public health challenges -- and while fitness must be part of our solution, we should never talk about it as a panacea.

All of us need to be ambassadors of good health -- ensuring safety and care, and teaching citizens around the world to reject risky behaviors that rob so many precious lives and precious futures.

Onto ring number four: Fitness must be a team sport.

We can't make 1996 the Fitness Games all by ourselves.

What's needed is the commitment and leadership of businesses, schools, religious organizations, non-profit organizations, police departments, the media, employers, health clinics, fitness centers and restaurants -- you name it -- everybody has to be involved.

We also have to challenge our governments at every level not just to talk the talk of prevention, but also to walk the walk by making reasonable investments in health promotion, preventive health, school health, and other services that encourage people to take personal responsibility for their health.

The key here is saturation: To change habits, to influence behavior, we must reach out creatively to people where they live, where they work, where they play, and where they learn.

We also need to build into the 1996 Games formal ways for spectators to get expert assessments of their own physical fitness.

This could mean setting up new Olympic fitness screening centers in shopping areas, or even including fitness checklists in TV GUIDES or in Olympic programs to encourage fans to work out, learn about their health, and bring that information home.

And that brings me to my final challenge, the fifth ring in our strategy.

The number one thing we have to do to turn the Atlanta Games into the Fitness Games: Mobilize the jawbone effect.

I'm not talking about activities that require approval from any legislative bodies.

I'm not talking about a meeting of NATO, the U.N., or even the World Health Organization.

I'm talking about a word-of-mouth campaign that we begin here today -- and take home to all of our communities.

Your leadership, your enthusiasm, and your willingness to hit the streets and talk to your communities about making Atlanta the Fitness Games can be the spark that ignites an engine and fuels the health movement this planet needs.

Make no mistake about it: This is a marathon, not a sprint.

And so, we must take on this challenge the same way Joan Benoit Samuelson took on the challenge of bringing home the gold in 1984.

We must assess the distance, get out in front of the pack, keep our courage and commitment through the ups and downs and sharp turns in the course, and keep our eyes on the prize -- victory lane.

Nobody is saying this will be easy. Nobody is saying this will always be fun.

But it wasn't always easy or fun for Abebe Bikila, the shoeless Ethiopian marathoner who won the gold in 1960 in Rome.

And it wasn't always easy or fun for Fanny Blanbers-Koen, a 30 year-old mother of two from the Netherlands who won four Gold medals in track and field in the 1948 Games.

With courage and conviction, dreams and dedication, these great Olympians reached their goals.

We can too.

I look forward to working with you to bring home a fitness Gold medal in 1996 -- for our world.

Thank you.