Lausanne, Switzerland - International Olympic Committee
President, Jacques Rogge, gave Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa an
interview on July 17 at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne,
Switzerland, in the final countdown to the Beijing Olympics.
The IOC president spoke about his dealings with the Chinese
organizers, doping, football, new sports and other issues.
dpa: How good is your Chinese?
Jacques Rogge: The only thing I can say in Chinese is Ni Hao
(Hello) and Xie Xie (Thank You).
dpa: What are you looking forward to in Beijing?
Rogge: What I really want is good Games for the athletes. That's
the number one priority. Let the athletes be happy. Athletes mostly
have one or two chances to go to the Games. That means a good Olympic
village, a good transportation system, very good sports competitions
in state of the art venues. Of course security is a number one
priority. Secondly a good general organization for the media. And if
you have a good warm crowd and good performances that's the cherry on
the cake.
dpa: IOC Vice-President Thomas Bach said that the Chinese have to
be careful that the Games don't become too security-orientated.
Rogge: Of course security is the number one priority, you can not
compromise in security. It is like being pregnant, either you are
pregnant or you are not pregnant. You don't have security in the
middle. But in the way you apply security there can be some
flexibility. It is this flexibility that Thomas is alluding to. We
have been dealing with the organizers to have a little bit of
flexibility while not compromising the security.
dpa: The dialogue with the Chinese seems to have not been easy at
times. What makes the dialogue so difficult?
Rogge: It is a cultural issue, it is a totally different culture.
One thing you have to adapt to is that we are selfish individuals. I
am a world of myself and you are a world of yourself. In China, as an
individual you would be part of a group. You have to work for them,
not for yourself. There is also the very big issue in Asia that you
can not lose face. You have to be respectful. We are used to taking
individual decisions. But in China it is always the group that
decides, and it must be a consensus.
dpa: You have spoken about a 'silent diplomacy' effort. How did it
work?
Rogge: When I was elected I did to speak to sinologues, people who
had worked in China, business people, diplomats, ministers, even
heads of state. I said how do you approach the Chinese? And I read a
lot of books on that. They all said to me if you want to obtain
something you have to have silent negotiations, silent diplomacy.
Just for this issue of face-saving. We have obtained the new foreign
media law. It is not perfect, we agree. We are pressing the Chinese
to implement it as best as possible. This is a revolution, this is
something that I believe will also leave a lasting legacy in China.
The second thing we insisted on is to tighten the laws against child
labour. We obtained from them compensation for these people who were
ex-populated because of Olympic construction, and the fourth thing is
that we insisted and they obtained a far more stringent law on
environment.
dpa: The Chinese government was not amused about your comment of a
'moral obligation.'
Rogge: I said what I thought and I said what I had to say and I
reminded them of what they said themselves. This is not me lecturing
them to do this and that. I said simply 'you have said that, may I
remind you of what you said yourself.'
dpa: Do the Games benefit the IOC and the Olympic Movement? Many
people say they are damaging the IOC and the Olympic image.
Rogge: I will be able to tell you at the closing ceremony. If the
Games are well-organized, if we have good competitions, if all the
criteria that I have explained to you are met, yes, the Games would
benefit. You know I never said that these were the best Games and
this is something I would never say. I will have a qualification for
these Games which I believe will reflect the idea of the Olympic
Family. But let's first see how the Games evolve.
dpa: You said in an earlier interview this year that the IOC has
to rethink its position on human rights.
Rogge: I said we have to study the influence of human rights, not
to change them, to study our role as far as human rights and social
expectations are concerned. The public is expecting a lot of things
from us that are not always feasible for the IOC. That is what we are
trying to do. We are going to look into a whole series of issues, one
of which will be the human rights issue.
dpa: Amnesty International said recently that, in terms of human
rights, the Games didn't bring anything positive to the Chinese
people. Do you agree?
Rogge: I am not going to enter into a dispute with Amnesty
International, who I respect very much. I have a different opinion.
I believe the Games will definitely bring something to China and
definitely an openness to the country which is unprecedented. You
can't judge the influence of the Games before the Games have been
held. In one or two years after the Games you can see what influence
they had. I think the Chinese will know much more about the world
than they know today and the world much more about China. I believe
that will be a positive effect.
dpa: You said that your decision of continuing as IOC president
depends on these Games. Juan Antonio Samaranch said it is your
obligation to continue. What is your position?
Rogge: I always said very clearly that I would take and announce a
decision after Beijing because this is the last year of my mandate.
I feel very good. Beijing will be one of the elements in judging
whether i will run again or not.
dpa: What is your biggest fear going to Beijing?
Rogge: It is not my psychology to be afraid. These are going to be
my 18th Games. I have a lot under my belt. There is nothing I am
really afraid of. There are issues that are important, security is
important, transport is important, but there is nothing I am really
afraid of. I think the preparation has been extremely good and I
think the dynamics of the Games will prove that.
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