International Olympic Committee Brokers Agreement with Iraqi Government

Lausanne, Switzerland – An agreement between the Iraqi government and the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday clears the way for Iraqi participation in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

In a productive meeting at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, the IOC and the Government of Iraq agreed on a series of steps that will lead to a fully functioning, independent National Olympic Committee in Iraq. The agreement re-establishes the independent NOC of Iraq which will be allowed to take part in the Beijing Games.

Iraqi athletes will compete in Beijing under the Iraqi flag, led by coaches and team leaders selected by the independent Iraqi National Olympic Committee. Five government representatives will be invited by the IOC as observers to the Games in Beijing. The agreement also calls for the transparent and fair election of a new, independent Iraqi National Olympic Committee, no later than the end of November 2008. This process will be overseen by the IOC and the Olympic Council of Asia and will be held in cooperation with the Government of Iraq, and in accordance with the Olympic Charter.

“I commend the government of Iraq for reaching an agreement that serves the long-term interest of Iraqi athletes,” IOC President Jacques Rogge said. “We have said all along that we want to see Iraqi athletes in Beijing.”

The IOC helped establish an independent Iraqi National Olympic Committee in February 2004, and has provided substantial financial support and other assistance to Iraqi athletes. In May this year, the Iraqi government sought to disband the independent NOC and replace it with one headed by a government official — a clear violation of the Olympic Charter regarding government interference.

The IOC responded on 4 June by suspending the government-imposed committee. The IOC urged Iraqi officials to resolve the matter and issued an open invitation for a meeting in Lausanne.

The deadline for competitors entering the Beijing Olympic Games for all events except athletics passed on 23 July. As a result, the slots for five Iraqi athletes have been redistributed, but two Iraqi athletics competitors will have the opportunity to compete in Beijing.

“We look forward to seeing the Iraqi flag in Beijing,” Rogge said.

 

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For further information, please contact Emmanuelle Moreau +41 79 637 30 17 or the IOC Communications Department at +41 21 621 60 00 or e-mail: pressoffice@olympic.org.

Beijing’s historic cultural icons are already celebrating golden times, even before the start of the Olympic Games. The long-awaited event has been the catalyst which has sparked a massive renovation programme for ancient buildings and monuments in and around China’s capital. Over the past eight years, more than one billion yuan (about USD 140 million) has been spent sprucing up some of Beijing’s most important cultural and historic relics ready for the influx of athletes, visitors and media for the Olympic Games.

According to Kong Fanzhi, Director of the Beijing Cultural Relics Protection Bureau, the sum is equivalent to the total amount spent on protecting the city’s cultural heritage in the 110 years up to 1990. The restoration programme has included renovations to several UNESCO World Heritage List sites – the Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Peking Man Site and the Ming Tombs. Work has also been carried out on imperial parks, religious buildings and traditional hutong residential alleyways, and involved the reconstruction of the Ming-era Yongdingmen Gate, demolished in 1957, as part of the restoration of Beijing’s 7.8km central axis.  

Two major Olympic venues – the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) and National Aquatics Centre (Water Cube) – even had to be moved after the discovery of two ancient temples during construction on their original sites. Recent weeks have seen the reopening of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the largest building in the Forbidden City, as well as the 14th-century Imperial College and Confucian Temple, located in the Yonghe Lamasery. “Based on decades of experience, we believe the best calling card for Beijing is traditional culture, rather than modernity,” said Fanzhi, at the reopening of the lamasery buildings.

UNESCO has monitored restoration work on the listed World Heritage Sites and organised a consultation in May 2007 between Chinese authorities, their conservation experts and those of the United Nations agency and international advisory bodies to discuss conservation techniques at the Forbidden City to ensure the authenticity of the site was being maintained.

 

Heritage in the forefront: still a huge task
Beatrice Kaldun, Programme Specialist for Culture in UNESCO’s Beijing office credited the “huge efforts” made by authorities in China in recent years, reflected in the types of World Heritage Sites such as the newly-created cultural site of Fujian Tulou, with its traditional round houses. “However, to bring heritage in the forefront is important and also good economics is still a task ahead of us, and China is not alone in this,” she added. “Indeed that is a difficult, but also interesting and important task of UNESCO to make heritage and its protection and importance an issue for everyone, including young people, rather than for a select group of experts and caretakers.”

Today, 28 July, there are just over 11 days to go until the big Olympic event in Beijing for some 10,500 athletes from the five continents. From 8 to 24 August, their performances and achievements, their joy and their pain, will certainly be publicised by one or other of the media worldwide. In Beijing, all these athletes, citizens of the world, will be able to take part in electing four of their peers to the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Twenty-nine candidates, representing as many countries, wish to become a “spokesperson” for the athletes of today and tomorrow. Only four of them will be elected and become the ambassadors of the values of sport and the voice of the athletes within the Olympic Movement. You can find out about these candidates in the IOC Athletes’ Commission Election Manual. The election results will be officially announced on 21 August in the Olympic Village in Beijing.

Find out more about the Athletes’ Commission

 

 The latest edition of the "Athletes' Bulletin"

The IOC Athletes’ Commission – attracting Olympians

The enhanced web site, www.olympic.org, is a vital resource for anyone with an interest in the Olympic Games, and an invaluable guide to the upcoming Beijing Games. The site will provide continually updated results from China, as well a behind-the-scenes look at activities in Beijing. Another feature, the “Olympic Express” e-journal, provides information tailored to the pre-teen audience. The Games will run from 8-24 August.

Site users can activate Flash animations explaining Olympic sports, and compete online against contestants from around the world. They can also find training tips and other advice from renowned Olympic athletes.

“Olympic.org is the ultimate resource on the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement,” IOC President Jacques Rogge said. “The web site is an important part of our effort to keep the Olympic spirit alive for future generations. The Olympic values do not change, but we are always looking for new ways to share them, especially with young people.”

The site offers users a chance to play, learn and explore while experiencing the drama and excitement of the Olympic Games.

Play
- Compete with contestants from around the world in online Olympic events 
- Watch dramatic highlights from past Olympic Games
- Activate animations that explain Olympic events 
- Create and share photo and video playlists from the Games
- Manipulate 3D views of Olympic torches and medals, and light the torch

Learn
- Track athletic performances over time

- Compare today’s athletes with athletes from the past

- Track the history of Olympic events (BMX is in. The tug-of-war is out).

- Enjoy inspiring profiles, photos and videos of Olympic heroes 

 - Tour the Olympic Museum online

 

- Search the extensive database of sports records and details of past Games 

- Discover a section devoted to Olympic medals, posters and other collectibles

- Find out what’s happening behind the scenes in Beijing; hear from volunteers and fans

The doors of the Olympic Village have opened today. With this opening, the IOC Anti-Doping Rules which will be applied during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games enter into force.

The International Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Rules

 

The increase in the number of tests: up from 3,600 in Athens to 4,500 in Beijing, serves as a clear demonstration of the IOC's commitment to ensuring that athletes play fair. As a general rule, all top five finishers plus a further two will be tested. The tests include pre-competition controls, which have proved to be decisive. Of the 4,500 tests, around 700 to 800 will apply to urine EPO detection and 900 will be blood tests. 

 

   
- an athlete may be notified and tested more than once during the same day;
- the fact that athletes who miss a test on two separate occasions during the Games, or on one occasion during the Games plus twice in the 18 months beforehand, will be considered to have committed an anti-doping rule violation;         
- possession of any substance from the list of prohibited substances will constitute a violation (previously only a selection from the prohibited list applied).     

    

The period of the Olympic Games is defined as “the period commencing on the date of the opening of the Olympic Village for the Olympic Games”, namely 27 July 2008, up until and including the day of the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games on 24 August 2008.

As the ruling body for the Olympic Games, the IOC will delegate the responsibility for implementing doping controls to the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). They will act under the IOC’s authority. The IOC Medical Commission will be responsible for overseeing all doping control processes on-site, which will be in full compliance with the IOC Anti-Doping Rules, the World Anti-Doping Code and the International Standard for Testing (ISO9001:2000).

The tests will be conducted at 41 doping control stations, 34 located in Beijing and 7 in the co-host cities. All venues will be equipped with a standard doping control station where blood and urine can be collected. The samples will be analysed in a period of between 24 and 72 hours only, depending on the kind of test.