Ex-minister: Rogge gave "clear support" to Beijing's bid (Roundup)

Beijing - IOC boss Jacques Rogge gave 'clear support' for Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Games in return for China's backing for his presidency, China's former sports minister was quoted as saying in a new book seen on Monday. When Yuan Weimin, the former sports minister, met him in early 2001, Rogge thanked China for 'expressing support for him many times,' Yuan said in the book by Yuan Shan. Beijing Mayor Liu Qi, who later headed the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, also attended that meeting, just months before the IOC met to select the host city for the 2008 Games from Beijing, Paris, Istanbul and Toronto. 'He (Rogge) also told Mayor Liu Qi that he completely supported Beijing's bid,' Yuan said. 'But he asked China to understand him, that he could not express it openly because he himself was the president of the European Olympic Committee, and Paris and Istanbul were both in Europe,' he said. But Yuan said Rogge agreed to 'do some work for Beijing.' 'I think it was enough for Rogge to have this attitude, it was very clear and very concrete,' he said. IOC officials have denied that Rogge entered into any agreement with Beijing's bidding committee. 'Jacques Rogge was elected IOC President by a large majority. As a candidate, he built his campaign on a strong programme that was widely welcome by IOC members. Any insinuation that deals would have been made is absolutely false,' the IOC told German Press Agency dpa in a statement on Monday. IOC members such as Australian Kevan Gosper and Thomas Bach of Germany also dismissed Yuan's statements. 'I can not imagine such a deal because it neither conforms with Jacques Rogge's personality nor with the situation at the time,' said the IOC vice-president Bach. In earlier passages of the book, called 'Yuan Weimin and the Sports World,' Yuan is quoted as saying China planned to rally its 'friends' to back Rogge. Top Chinese officials decided to adopt an ancient military strategy of 'forming an alliance of small armies,' he said. 'Of course, we wanted to make some commitment. We would unite our friends to support Rogge,' Yuan said. 'This strategy was our general guideline, it was something decided by the lead group for the Beijing Olympic bid. 'We wanted Rogge and his friends to support Beijing, and Rogge hoped IOC members from China and our friends would support him, and cooperate with each other. 'Both sides clearly understood it,' Yuan said. 'We thought this to be the best grouping, a grouping with the most hope, a grouping which would win the most popularity,' he said of the mutual support between Rogge and the Beijing bidding committee. 'This is no longer secret, it is openly discussed by the media and (IOC) members,' he said. Yuan was an executive president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics and was China's sports minister 2000- 2004. In his memoir, he also accused an unnamed Chinese IOC member of failing to toe the line during the election process for the IOC president in 2001 at the Session in Moscow in which Beijing was picked as well. The failure of the Chinese member to support Rogge left other Chinese officials 'puzzled and uncomfortable,' Yuan said. State media identified the rogue member as He Zhenliang, a former vice-president and current member of the IOC, who reportedly favoured South Korean candidate Kim Un Yong who lost against Rogge by a big margin. Via a state-run organization that he heads, He has requested the publishers to suspend sales of Yuan's book, alleging that it contained 'distorted facts', the Global Times newspaper said.