The 120th IOC Session kicked off tonight with a ceremony in the Opera Hall of the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing.  Speaking in the beautiful and modern facility in the heart of Beijing, IOC President Jacques Rogge welcomed China’s President Hu Jintao, 115 IOC members and all other members of the Olympic Family.  Four days ahead of the beginning of the 2008 Summer Games, President Rogge spoke of the power of the Olympic ideal, on Beijing and beyond.

President Rogge extended his sympathies to the Chinese people over the Sichuan earthquake that devastated the region in May and expressed his admiration for the “courage and determination of the Chinese people.” He added that his hope was for a Beijing Games that “will help the healing process in China and deepen the world’s knowledge of this remarkable country.”

Calling them a “landmark event for the Olympic Movement,” President Rogge spoke of the Beijing Games as “historic” for many reasons: “The mere fact that the Olympic Games are coming to China — home to nearly 20 percent of the world’s population — is significant.”  He went further to describe the improvements, investments and changes in Beijing that will “improve the quality of life and contribute to China’s economic development over the long term.”

President Rogge also spoke on the Olympic Movement and the “new challenges in today’s world,” encouraging creative ways to reach out to youth, such as through the Youth Olympic Games and the Olympic Value Education Programme.  He added, “We should also enhance our efforts to promote Olympic values worldwide…The Olympic Rings are a powerful symbol, recognized worldwide, because they represent a set of universal values.  It is our job to keep those values alive and thriving in a changing world.”

In closing, President Rogge expressed his excitement for the start of the Beijing Games, saying “I am also confident that we are about to experience a magnificent Olympic Games. When the Games start this weekend, we can join the rest of the world in watching the world’s best athletes as they compete in a forum that celebrates fair play, Olympic values and friendship.”


 OPENING CEREMONY OF THE IOC SESSION, Beijing 4 August 2008 -Speech of IOC President, Jacques Rogge

If there is one sport China expects to dominate beyond question, it is of course table tennis, and if “Hurricane” Wang Hao reaches the men’s singles final, there is one opponent above all he will be hoping to meet. Wang will be trying to make amends for what happened four years ago in Athens when South Korea’s Ryu Seung-Min surprisingly outclassed him in the final.

Clean sweep
Since the sport was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1988, China’s men and women have won all but four gold medals, and in Athens they had been aiming for a third consecutive clean sweep after Sydney and Atlanta. Ryu, now ranked eighth in the world, will be among Wang’s opponents again in Beijing and a re-match is very much on the cards.

World No 1
However, Wang has won the Asian Games, the World Cup and the Asian Championship on his way to the world No 1 spot, and he has not lost to his South Korean rival in major tournaments since Athens. Wang’s team-mate and four-times World Cup winner Ma Lin will also be in contention, while in the women’s events it will be a major surprise if 26-year-old Zhang Yining, world No 1 for five years, does not win singles and team gold.

European champion
If China have anything to fear from a country other than South Korea, it could possibly be Germany in the shape of Timo Boll, the European men’s champion and world No 6 who has recently recovered from a knee injury. Boll is widely regarded in Europe as the successor to the legendary Swede Jan-Ove Waldner, who played in every Olympic competition until Athens, winning gold in 1992.

“Evergreen tree”
Nicknamed Lao Wa, or evergreen tree, and as popular in China as he is in his home country, Waldner is now the proud proprietor of the only Swedish restaurant in Beijing! He was also the first of three players to win a “Grand Slam” of Olympic, World Championship and World Cup singles titles. The other two happen to be Liu Guoliang, now head coach of the Chinese men’s team, and Kong Linghui, coach of their women’s squad.

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Athletes participating in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will donate sporting clothes for refugees in Asia. The IOC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have just launched their successful "Giving is Winning" campaign in the Olympic Village to find as many supporters as possible for their joint project.  

Strong support so far  
"Giving is Winning" was activated last year in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to maximise the donations; and the initial objective of collecting 50,000 items by the Olympic Family was already nearly met ahead of the Beijing Games. "I am thrilled by this success and the strong support of the Olympic Family so far. Of course we want to go much further now - the bigger impact we can make with this campaign, the better. I am convinced that with our common efforts we can collect many more items," said IOC President Rogge in the Olympic Village. 

 

Athletes "Wanted"
With more than 10,000 athletes in Beijing, as well as many delegation members, his expectations are likely to be met. Sergey Bubka, IOC member and Chairman of the IOC Athletes’ Commission said: "I am confident that many of my colleagues will recognise the value of this project and be eager to contribute. It really is so easy to participate. Sport has given a lot to all of us and it is great to be able to give a little back by bringing joy to refugees".

The athletes can donate the items in the IOC Corner in the Olympic Village.

 

Morale-booster for young refugees
Its simple concept makes the campaign's success: members and supporters of the Olympic Movement donate clothes which are then distributed by the UNHCR to various refugee camps across the globe. The donations will also be used to facilitate sports activities in the camps. For refugees, sport can provide a semblance of normality and structure to lives that are in disarray as António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees explains: "Refugee youth have often suffered terribly and witnessed war first hand. Some refugees are born in camps, others grow up in camps, which can mean a lifetime with little or no access to sport or recreation. The gift of sportswear from Olympic athletes around the globe inspires refugees and connects them to the world of sports. Beyond happiness it brings them hope." 

BOCOG President Liu Qi, Jacques Rogge, Sergey Bubka and Veerapong Vongvarotai, UNHCR regional representative for China and Mongolia, were among the first to put their donations in the dedicated containers in the Olympic Village – the starting signal for the athletes and their entourage to lift "Giving is Winning" to new heights.

Learn more about "Giving is Winning": www.olympic.org/givingiswinning

 

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Since tennis returned to the Olympic Games as a full medal sport in 1988, it has consistently attracted the world’s best players, but there has probably never been a line-up to match what Beijing has to offer this summer. With nine of the world’s top 10 scheduled to take part in both the men’s and the women’s singles, it is enough to satisfy the appetite of even the most demanding sports fan.

 

Sharing top billing following their epic Wimbledon final will be Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael Nadal. Should world No 1 Federer win, it would be a case of third time lucky after finishing fourth in Sydney and going out early in Athens. There is a precedent for Swiss men’s singles success at the Olympic Games, as Marc Rosset was the surprise winner in Barcelona in 1992. For Nadal, who played doubles four years ago, it will be a first Olympic singles appearance.

 

A real threat to the world’s top two is Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the Australian Open champion and US Open runner-up. The three top men will all play doubles. In the women’s section the pressure will be on Djokovic’s compatriot Ana Ivanovic, the new world No 1 following her victory at the French Open. But one of the Willliams sisters, Serena or Venus, the double gold medallist at Sydney 2000, may start as favourite and they also come together for the US in the doubles.

 

Tennis was among the original sports when the modern Games began in 1896, and from then until 1924 it produced a number of well known champions, particularly among the women. Suzanne Lenglen of France, one of the greatest women’s players of all time, won gold in Antwerp in 1920, while four years later in Paris the winner was 18-year-old American Helen Wills, better known as Helen Wills Moody, who won eight Wimbledon titles.

 

Since 1988, when Germany’s Steffi Graf was the winner, the women’s gold medallists have continued to make more headlines than the men; the current title holder is Belgium’s Justine Henin-Hardenne, now retired but then world No 1. Perhaps the most ceberated men’s victory was that of American Andre Agassi on home soil in 1996. Agassi and Graf would later marry.

 

 

Harbin (China), Innsbruck (Austria), Kuopio (Finland) and Lillehammer (Norway)* were selected today by the IOC Executive Board as shortlisted Candidate Cities for the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to be held in 2012. “We are very pleased to have four excellent shortlisted candidates for the 1st Winter YOG ever,” IOC President Jacques Rogge commented on the decision. 

* alphabetical order

 

The selection by the Executive Board was made on the basis of a study of the cities’ Candidature Files and related documents submitted to the IOC. The study and subsequent report were conducted by a panel of experts including representatives of the Olympic Movement and specialists. The panel assessed the risks and opportunities associated with each city’s project. Based on the timeframe of three and a half years available to host the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games, the panel also placed strong emphasis on the level of quality and detail relating to technical aspects, thus giving an indication of the robustness of each project.  

 

REPORT OF THE IOC PANEL OF EXPERTS (PDF)

 

The projects of the four shortlisted Candidate Cities will now be further assessed by an IOC Evaluation Commission to be appointed by the IOC President.

The IOC Evaluation Commission will submit its report to the IOC Executive Board in November 2008. On the basis of this report, the IOC Executive Board will recommend which shortlisted Candidate Cities will be submitted to the IOC members for election as host city. Following a postal vote by all IOC members, the host city for the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games will be announced in December 2008.

One thousand athletes will take part in the Winter Youth Olympic Games and compete in the Olympic sports. The ages of the participants will vary between 14 and 18 years old with specific two-year age groups to be defined for each sport/discipline. All young athletes will also participate in an attractive culture and education programme, highlighting activities linked to the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect.