International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said the Beijing Olympics succeeded in opening up China but stressed it was never the sports body’s role to force social and political change on the Communist giant.
“It has been a long journey since our decision in July 2001 to bring the Olympic Games to China, but there can now be no doubt that we made the right choice,” Rogge said yesterday on the final day of the Games.
The Olympics, he said, had brought unprecedented global scrutiny to the emerging superpower with one-fifth of the world’s population.
“The world has learned about China, and China has learned about the world and I believe this is something that will have positive effects for the long term,” Rogge said.
Despite the grand success of the Beijing Games in terms of organization, sports venues and athletic performances, the IOC has been accused of failing to get China to live up to promises of improvements in human rights and press freedoms.
“We are first and foremost an organization devoted to sport, but it is sport with a purpose,” Rogge said in a speech to the IOC General Assembly.
“The IOC and the Olympic Games cannot force changes on sovereign nations or solve all the ills of the world. But we can, and we do, contribute to positive change through sport,” he said.
Rogge said the Olympics were leaving China with a long-term legacy of sporting facilities, improved urban infrastructure and greater environmental awareness.
“Some of the changes in China are obvious today,” he said.
“Others will become apparent with time. The legacy of these Games for China is ultimately up to the Chinese people,” he said.
Rogge acknowledged that not everything was “perfect” for media access to the Internet during the Beijing Games, and expressed surprise that no citizen protest permits had been granted.
While Olympics organizers promised to set aside three protest zones in the city during the competition, authorities said all of the 77 applications for permits to protest were either withdrawn or rejected.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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