IOC chief Rogge praises Vancouver's embrace of Games (Roundup)

Feb 28, 2010, 22:04 GMT

Vancouver - International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge Sunday praised Vancouver's 'extraordinary embrace' of the winter Olympics Games and said it was 'something unique.'

On the last day of the Vancouver Olympics, Rogge said the IOC was 'happy with the Games' which had overcome some initial 'teething pains.'

'The Games started in very difficult condition with the tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili and that is something the Olympic movement will not forget, of course,' Rogge told reporters.

'This has hit me very strongly on a personal point of view. I didn't sleep for two consecutive nights,' Rogge added.

'When you see a young athlete pursuing his dream to participate in Olympics Games and having such an accident it hurts, that's for sure. I am sure no one will forget that.'

Rogge said he believed it was right to go ahead with competition after the death of the Georgian luger but 'we will make a complete investigation in our debrief of the Vancouver Games.'

The athletes themselves were pushing the boundaries in sport. 'We, at times, have to protect them from their own risk-taking,' he said.

'We have a moral responsibility in making sure the games are as safe as possible but we will never be able to eliminate all the risk.'

But Rogge stressed the Vancouver Games should be judged 'on their own merits' and said the organizers VANOC 'really did a good job.'

'The Games began with teething pains for VANOC but I congratulate VANOC for correcting that. From that moment on things went extremely well,' he said.

The 67-year-old Belgian said the athletes had been 'absolutely thrilled' by the village and 'absolutely delighted' by the venues, and had been supported everywhere by very warm and fair crowds.

The Games had seen 'sport at the highest level' and broadcasters around the world were also delighted with 'sky-high ratings', far higher than at Salt Lake City in 2002 in a comparable time zone.

'And then there is this extraordinary embrace of the entire city of the Olympic Games, something I have never seen on this scale before,' Rogge said.

'I have seen this embrace in Lillehammer (in 1994) but Lillehammer is a small city of 20,000 and here we are over 1 million. It is totally different and this is really something unique and has given a great atmosphere for these Games.'

Rogge said there were many memorable moments and he would remember particularly the performances of Sweden's Anja Paerson, who won bronze the day after a downhill crash, and Slovenia's Petra Majdic who competed in cross-country with fractured ribs and a lung injury.

Others mentioned by Rogge were ski jumper Simon Amman, figure skater Kim Yu-Na and Norwegian cross-country skiers Petter Northug and Margit Bjoergen, whose five medals made her the most successful competitor at the Games.

The IOC has reprimanded two ice-hockey players during the Games for taking prohibited stimulants, but some 2,000 doping tests have been negative.

Rogge said there was a 'message' in that, and that 'at least for those products that we are able to trace there has been a deterrent effect.'

'We had seven positive in Salt Lake City (2002) and seven in Torino (2006) so we see a trend there,' Rogge said.

Looking ahead to the next winter Games in Sochi, Rogge underlined Russians' knowledge and love of sport and the 'fantastic geographical conditions' of the Black Sea resort.

The Sochi organizers will have learned a lot from Vancouver and should 'capitalize on the strong points of Vancouver and where there was some teething pains to make sure these are not repeated.'