* * * C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t * * * (News Global) Special Issue ======================================= ***** The Bid for Olympic Games ***** ======================================= Sunday, August 29, 1993 Table of Contents # of Lines ============================================================================ 1. News Briefs (3 Items) ................................................ 28 2. Manchester: Games Could Regenerate City .............................. 83 3. Berlin Bid for Games Hit by Mishaps .................................. 85 4. China Determined to Have the 2000 Olympic Games Held in Beijing ...... 78 5. Beijing Stakes Honour on Bid for Games ............................... 90 6. Sydney Sees Beijing as Main Games Rival .............................. 67 7. Sydney in Position for 2000, Frontrunner Awaits IOC's Decision ...... 157 8. Olympics Can't Seem to Sidestep Politics ............................. 80 9. China Olympic Opponents Target Sponsors .............................. 55 10.Time Right for China's Olympics ..................................... 128 ============================================================================ [Editor's note: Due to its large size, we advise readers to save this file and read it at your own leisure] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. News Briefs (3 Items) ................................................ 28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Network news, 08/26/93] A group of overseas Chinese from around the world write to International Olympic Committee President and all IOC members, to show their firm support for Beijing's bid for the 2000 Olympics. For more information and co-signing the letter, please contact Jianliang Li at (Abridged by CND) ___ ___ ___ [DPA 8/24/93] Taipei - The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) passed a resolution Tuesday to support Beijing's bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games, the Central News Agency said. The resolution, proposed by Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, head of the 42-member OCA, asks all members to write letters in support of Beijing's bid to the International Olympic Committee. The OCA's execution bureau was meeting in Taipei to discuss preparation for the Asian Games in 1994 and 1998. Taiwan, which attacks China's positions on almost all major issues, supported the resolution partly because it hopes China would let Taiwan host some of the 2000 Olympic Games. On Monday, Chinese Olympic Committee Chairman He Zhenliang, who arrived to attend the OCA meeting, said China may allow some Olympic events to take place in Taiwan if Beijing wins its bid to host the 2000 games. (Forwarded by: Deming) ___ ___ ___ [Reuter, 08/25/93] BERLIN -- German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said on Wednesday that Berlin, divided for decades by the Cold War, would be the ideal site for an Olympic Games in a reunited Europe. Kohl, in a commentary written for Die Welt newspaper, said the Games in Berlin would help heal the worldwide divisions caused by the Cold War. "Berlin was a symbol of the division of Europe for so many years, as a result, there can hardly be a city better suited to breath life into the Olympic spirit of peaceful competition and international understanding." (Forwarded by: Chengyan Liu) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Manchester: Games Could Regenerate City .............................. 83 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: Chengyan Liu Source: Reuter, August 25, 1993 MANCHESTER -- The 2000 Summer Olympics offer Manchester a heaven-sent opportunity to rebuild the rotting core of the world's first industrial city. Much of urban Manchester resembles scenes from the long-running television soap opera "Coronation Street" with gloomy rows of back-to-back terraced houses, boarded-up shops and derelict factories. "This area is in dire need of regeneration," admits Dick Palmer, general secretary of the British Olympic Association, referring to Manchester's run-down image. "The Olympics would provide a wonderful legacy for the city of Manchester for many generations to come." The bid organisers say Manchester offers the International Olympic Committee (IOC) a compact, risk-free Games where the athletes would come first. Although the bid is technically excellent, Manchester is arguably the least glamorous of the five candidates. But bid leader Bob Scott rejects this as a significant weakness, insisting the city is happy to be judged on its technical merit. "We don't believe it is a glamour parade," he says. Manchester's bid concentrates competition in 15 of the 25 Olympics sports in the centre of this sports-mad city. Athletes would be able to walk from their village along a canal to the city centre, the main stadium complex and venues for 10 sports. Transport and security would be no problem, organisers say. Manchester has a large local rail network and the Metrolink light railway which would link venues. Police are used to dealing with the 50,000-strong crowds who watch the Manchester United soccer club. Britain's anti-terrorist experience built up over 20 years dealing with the Irish Republican Army would also be put to good use. After losing the race for the 1996 Games to the U.S. city of Atlanta, Mancunians -- the 2.6 million people who inhabit this northern English city -- believe Britain deserves to host the Games again. London staged the 1908 and 1948 Olympics and British athletes have never missed a Games. "Britain is a good son of the Olympic movement whose time has come," says Scott. "Manchester does not have just one argument, it has a raft of arguments," he added. "You would choose us if you didn't want to take any risks. We will get it right. We believe we have the makings of a classic games." The athletes would be housed in a village stretching in a "dog bone" shape from the city centre to the Olympic Centre, containing the main stadium, the badminton and gymnastics arena and velodrome. Every athlete would have a single bedroom. Four universities, containing 10,000 rooms, would be used to house the media. Cruise liners would line the Manchester Ship Canal for sponsors' guests. Manchester already has 28,000 hotel beds and a further 7,500 would be provided by 2000. All hotels have signed a charter guaranteeing no price increases specifically for the Games. The city has learned important lessons from its failure to win the 1996 Games. They have tried to increase the involvement of ordinary people -- 70,000 children are being taught about the Olympics in schools -- and, crucially, the government supports the bid. Margaret Thatcher showed little enthusiasm four years ago. Her successor as prime minister John Major is a sports fan and has stressed his support. He will be in Monte Carlo on September 23 to put Manchester's case to the IOC before the final vote. Major has pledged $110 million to fund the bid and build key facilities. If the bid is successful, the government would underwrite expenditure on venues and organisation. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, visiting Manchester last month, said he considered Major's support to be a cornerstone of the bid. He also welcomed the bid's conservative profit estimates. Scott believes Manchester could make a $92 million profit after generating $1.45 billion in revenue. If successful, city authorities plan to spend $2 billion on a building programme, including $250 million from the Games' operating budget, which they hope would transform the cradle of the Industrial Revolution into a modern metropolis. During his visit Samaranch was driven past the edge of Moss Side, reputed to be the drugs capital of Britain where guns and crack cocaine are said to be available on most street corners. The vista of squalid back streets with their dreary buildings was made even more depressing by light rain -- Manchester's dismal weather is renowned throughout Britain. Officials say the Games would reverse the city's slide into decay, providing 115,000 man-years of employment and triggering $6 billion of expenditure in the region. IOC inspectors were impressed by Manchester's plans for urban renewal and reclamation, but while the city's planned infrastucture was well received, the commission noted that 10 of the existing 15 sports facilities need renovation. The organisers stress the environmental benefits of the bid -- 80 percent of new facilities would be built on reclaimed land and each venue has an assured use after the Games. Huge red-brick warehouses dating from the city's 19th century heyday would be turned into the press and broadcasting centres. A vast factory area has been razed to make way for a partially completed velodrome and the 80,000-seat main stadium. The stadium would almost certainly not be built if the city does not win the Games in September. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Berlin Bid for Games Hit by Mishaps .................................. 85 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: Chengyan Liu Source: Reuter, August 25, 1993 BERLIN -- A popular car bumper sticker in Berlin bears the legend "Sydney 2000." It sums up the attitude of many citizens of united Germany's capital to its bid to host the summer Olympic Games in 2000. Officialdom may be in favour of hosting the Olympiad but the sentiment on the streets is ambivalent, with many Berliners questioning if their newly reunited city and country can shoulder the costs of the Games. The once-divided city is grappling with problems caused by unification and the economic near collapse of the east and some question if the Games would be too much for the city to handle. Many Berliners are fed up with the soaring cost of living and the dirt and noise caused by the massive building boom that followed unification. They fear the Olympiad will only make the situation worse. Opinion polls show that only about half the public back Berlin's bid. "With an unparalleled advertising campaign, the city has been trying for months to stir enthusiasm for the bid, but the desired effect hasn't happened," commented the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "The zeal has got on the nerves of lot of Berliners, annoyed at attempts to foist enthusiasm upon them." But despite a sometimes clumsy campaign for the games and occasionally violent local opposition, Berlin officials are convinced they are among the favourites, just behind front-runner Sydney and alongside Manchester. The confidence stems partly from an International Olympic Committee (IOC) technical report that gave the city solid marks in most areas and the fact that Chancellor Helmut Kohl has been an aggressive lobbyist. "We're like a runner in third place nearing the end of an 800-metre race," said Axel Nawrocki, the head of Berlin's bid, after the technical report was released in July. "We still have a good chance to win the race in the home stretch." Berlin supporters believe their city's bid was helped by the smooth administration and enthusiastic crowds at the world athletics championships, held in Stuttgart this month. Berlin Governing Mayor Eberhard Diepgen said: "Stuttgart has shown once again that Germany offers perfect organisation for large sports events." The bookmakers aren't so confident. They predict the IOC will award the games to Sydney next month, putting Berlin in fourth place behind Manchester and Beijing and just ahead of unfancied Istanbul. Officials mounting Berlin's campaign admit that there have been blunders. "We had a number of mishaps earlier and we have had to overcome those slip-ups," said the bid's deputy head Friedrich Ruth, a diplomat drafted into service a year ago at the request of former foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. "We have found our rhythm now, we have found our form," Ruth said. "But we know that we have an immense amount of work in front of us. Our chances are very good, have increased steadily and will increase further." The idea of hosting the games was conceived in the mid-1980s as a way of uniting a city split by the Cold War. Then East German leader Erich Honecker rejected the idea but it was revived after the communists were swept from power after the 1989 revolution and the two German states united. Things got off to a shaky start when revelations emerged in 1991 that a consultancy firm working for the bid committee had collected dossiers on the sex lives of IOC members for use during the campaign. Finance Minister Theo Waigel said Germany couldn't afford the Games. Radical left-wing opponents hit businesses supporting the bid with rock and arson attacks. About 5,000 militant demonstrators met the IOC's inspection team in April, carrying banners that read "Attack the IOC bosses." The IOC members needed an escort of several hundred police officers. Samaranch cancelled a scheduled trip to Berlin in May for the 80th birthday party of Willi Daume, long-time head of the German National Olympic Committee. It was seen at the time as another bad omen for Berlin, although Samaranch paid a brief visit to the city in August. Berlin's bid has not been helped by comments from prominent German athletes such as Boris Becker and Katarina Witt. Becker questioned Germany's fitness to host the Games in light of the current wave of neo-Nazi attacks on foreign residents and asylum-seekers. Figure skater Witt, who won two Olympic gold medals for East Germany, raised the prickly issue of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's misuse of the last Olympics in Berlin in 1936. The stadium built for the 1936 Games, used by Hitler's propaganda machine to glorify Nazism, will be the main site of the 2000 Games if Berlin's bid is successful. Organisers had braced themselves for an emotional debate about the stadium, which Hitler had draped in gigantic Nazi swastika flags and banners. They point out that Ignatz Bubis, the leader of Germany's Jewish community, has said there should be no objection to using the stadium for the 2000 Games. Other facilities, including swimming pools, a velodrome and accommodation for the participants will be purpose-built. Most of them will be constructed in east Berlin. The cost of such facilities is not lost on many Berliners. "It is misguided to invest billions of marks for Olympic sport facilities when the city is facing a...deficit next year of 7.5 billion marks ($4.45 billion) and when the city is facing great social problems," said Harold Wolf, a communist party member of the city's parliament. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. China Determined to Have the 2000 Olympic Games Held in Beijing ...... 78 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: Jian Source: The Vancourver Sun, August 25, 1993 Byline: Lena H. Sun The Chinese are approaching their bid for the 2000 Olympics with the same single-mindedness that has brought their athletes world-class status. They are ordering citizens around the country to show public support for the Olympics, tearing up Beijing in massive infrastructure improvements and guaranteeing hotel room rates - seven years before the event. Chinese officials do not want to appear overconfident in public, but it is clear they don't expect to lose. "Never before has such a large and developing country like China ever hosted the Olympics," said He Zhenliang, president of China's Olympic Committee and vice president of the International Olympic Committee. "To usher in a new century - for China and for the Olympic movement - that would have special meaning." For Beijing, hosting the Olympics has far more than normal importance. The Chinese leadership sees it as a way to help erase the blot on the country's image after the bloody 1989 Chinese army crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, which left hundreds and perhaps thousands of people dead. China's aging leaders also see the Games as a way to give China a chance to command world recognition and gain domestic acclaim at the turn of the century. The winner will be announced in Monte Carlo on Sept. 23. An International Olympic Committee inspection report, released Tuesday, gave top marks to Sydney, Australia, and a failing grade to Brasilia. Beijing is still in the running, along with Manchester, England, and Istanbul. Beijing remains ranked somewhere in the middle, with the report citing drawbacks such as language problems, air pollution, inadequate technology and outdated sports facilities. The IOC inspection team also was concerned about Beijing's promise to keep out elements that might endanger "China's national security and social order." But other human-rights concerns, which have made Beijing's bid controversial, were not raised. Beijing's strongest competitors acknowledge the Chinese city's lure. China, which came in fourth in gold medals won at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, is the world's most populous country - home to 1.2 billion people, or 22 percent of the world's population. It has never hosted an Olympics. China presents tremendous commercial opportunities for sponsors. The country boasts a 5,000-year history, not to mention telegenic backdrops such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. If they win the bid, Chinese officials say they will only need to build seven new facilities, including a 100,000-seat Olympic stadium, an aquatic sports center and an equestrian sports center. I.M. Pei, the prominent Chinese-American architect, has promised to design the Olympic stadium and a Hong Kong business tycoon has offered to underwrite it. Beijing plans to spend $ 308 million to build the new sports facilities and another $ 41 million to expand, renovate and maintain the existing ones. Beijing plans to spend $ 7.5 billion on major improvement. With only one month left before the winner of the Games is announced, Beijing's biggest problem now - aside from its human-rights record - is dispelling the stereotype that China is too backward to have the sophisticated telecommunications and broadcast facilities required for the Olympics. By the year 2000, China will be using high-definition television, officials said. Even though IOC officials have said they do not want politics to interfere with sports, ultimately the decision will be a political one. There has been significant U.S. congressional opposition to Beijing's bid, and several human-rights groups have also mounted campaigns against Beijing. But IOC officials have made it clear that human rights are not a prime concern. "If we always picked a city wearing a halo, we wouldn't be celebrating our 100th anniversary because we wouldn't have had enough cities to host the games," said one IOC official. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Beijing Stakes Honour on Bid for Games ............................... 90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: Chengyan Liu Source: Reuter, August 24, 1993 BEIJING -- Beijing 2000 is a bid of promises and potential. At stake is the Chinese Communist Party's reputation and the nation's honour. China wants to use the 2000 Summer Olympics to show off the achievements of its still-unfolding era of economic turmoil and social development and redeem its image, stained by its bloody suppression of human rights. Chinese Olympic Committee chief He Zhenliang says granting the Olympics to China -- where a fifth of humanity is remoulding one of the world's oldest civilisations -- would assure "the most extraordinary Games ever." By contrast, rival bids by Sydney, Berlin and Manchester with their wealth and advanced infrastructures would yield yet another "ordinary Olympics," he says, stressing that all but two modern Games have been held in developed countries. "Even halfway into the next century, China will still be a developing country that lags behind the West in technology," said He. "If you use only technical criteria to choose a site, the Games should always go to the United States...and if the Olympics belong only only to rich countries, the Games have no future." China's 14-year embrace of capitalism has resulted in rising living standards, a new consumerism, economic muscle, booming tourism and -- in recent years -- dozens of Olympic champions. But reform has also led to the shrouding of Beijing in a pall of pollution, snarled its leafy boulevards with traffic jams and sacrificed whole neighbourhoods to a merciless real estate binge. Prosperity has also fuelled desire for political reform and real democracy -- expectations China's authoritarian rulers violently suppressed in the Tiananmen Square crackdown of June 1989, and still oppose as seditious. This is the crux of Beijing's predicament: China is changing faster now than at any time since the 1949 revolution, and no one knows what it will look like by the turn of the century. Beijing admits it will need all seven years to prepare for the Games and has launched a multi-billion-dollar push that already is changing the face of the centuries - old Chinese capital. The bid committee, known as Bobico, has pledged to renovate 17 Olympic venues that an International Olympic Committee (IOC) technical team said fall far below world standards, and is building 21 new ones. Bobico says the Olympic village, now just a blueprint, would by 1999 be a high-security "Chinese-style" sporting oasis with training halls, shops, churches, village greens and recreational sites. In an attempt to woo the IOC Beijing has said it would create a Third World sports fund with $120 million in proceeds collected above and beyond the Games' $1.02 billion budget. The Chinese capital pulled out all the stops for the inspection of its facilities by an IOC inquiry commission, unleashing an orgy of kowtowing adulation of the visitors. "We regard the International Olympic Committee as God," said Beijing Communist Party secretary Chen Xitong. Asked whether Beijing might be trying too hard to get the Games, one IOC source said: "They're so excited about the prospect that they may be overdoing it." So eager was Beijing for the Games that the city authorities ordered homes to douse their coal stoves to cut the smog level during the IOC visit. Beijing has spent millions already and budgeted $7.5 billion to modernise the city for the Games. Roads are being widened and flyovers built to accommodate the soaring volume of motor traffic. The underground rail system and airport are being expanded. To curb filthy coal and coal gas emissions, natural gas lines are being laid throughout the city. New treatment plants aim to end the need for boiling drinking water. China is spending $3.4 billion on telecommunications and says that by 2000 Beijing would have 5.5 million telephone lines and 60 satellite channels capable of transmitting high definition television. Few analysts doubt that the government, with its unquestioned authority, wealth and public mobilisation skills, can finish the building and infrastructure work on time. IOC members face a tough political decision in choosing a host city on September 23: Should human rights shortcomings weigh as heavily as China's critics say? One political miscalculation in China's bid, analysts say, was naming the hardline Chen to head Bobico. As U.S. politicians noted in opposing Beijing's bid, Chen's guarantee that anti-Games groups would emerge "neither now nor in the future" shows he is still as committed to curbing free speech as he was during the pro-democracy protests of 1989. It was Chen, then Beijing's mayor, who publicly defended the martial law decree under which Chinese troops and tanks opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. The Chinese said more than 200 civilians and several dozen soldiers were killed. Foreign diplomats and human rights organisations put the number of dead at more than 1,000. China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping appears to be have kept himself above the fray during the run-up to the Olympic bid, perhaps to avoid humiliation should it fail. It is not known what impact the death of 89-year-old Deng would have on China's ambition to stage the Games. At free-market restaurants near the Games site, talk often turns to China's chances and the sacrifices Beijing residents will be asked to make. Many say the hope of political and social progress is worth the trouble. "On balance, we understand what we will have to put up with," said one entrepreneur whose restaurant would be razed to make way for athletes' accommodation. "The government says there are no human rights problems, which of course is not true," he said softly. "But winning the games will make things better. There still may be arbitrary detention and other problems, but for ordinary citizens there will be improvements -- like a legal system where we can get redress when someone wrongs us." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Sydney Sees Beijing as Main Games Rival .............................. 67 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: Chengyan Liu Source: Reuter, August 24, 1993 SYDNEY -- There is no escaping Sydney's Olympic dream, whether you take a ferry around the Harbour, a taxi to the Opera or a bus to Bondi Beach. Multi-coloured streamers flutter everywhere, urging locals and tourists alike to "share the spirit." Sydney, following two recent unsuccessful Australian bids, wants the 2000 Olympics with a vengeance. "Sydney is the athletes' choice. Beijing is the politicians' choice," said Bob Elphinston, general manager of the bid, in typically blunt Australian terms. Elphinston left no doubt that local officials see China's political muscle as the main obstacle. "Sydney is a no-risk city for the Olympic movement," says Elphinston. "Beijing offers incentives for trade and offers commercial opportunities...but at what risk?" In many respects, Sydney seems to have it made. The city of 3.5 million people has 140 ethnic groups -- pretty much guaranteeing support for most members of the Olympic Family -- a sports-mad population, near-perfect climate, fine facilities and strong political backing. The IOC's enquiry commission technical report released last month virtually said as much. "If you look at the 23 things that matter on the technical side, the Sydney bid is bloody near perfect," one IOC official told Reuters in London last month. It's so far ahead of the others, it's quite breathtaking." But history suggests the choice of Olympic host city has rarely been made on such a straightforward basis. The IOC's decision ends 2.5 years of lobbying by six cities -- although reading the local press gives the impression that only Sydney and Beijing are in the frame. Little is heard about Berlin and Manchester, almost nothing about rank outsider Istanbul. Brasilia withdrew its bid earlier this month. If Sydney wins it will be the just second time the Games have been held in the Southern Hemisphere. The Australian city of Melbourne hosted the 1956 Games. According to the IOC technical report, 90 percent of the population supports the bid. About 50,000 people have already volunteered as helpers if Sydney wins. There have been a few voices of caution, though. "The whole Sydney prospectus when compared with the targets of Atlanta and what has actually been achieved so far is outrageously optimistic," wrote columnist Max Walsh. "There are potential shortfalls of hundreds of millions of dollars." he said in the Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney's bid projects the lowest revenue and spending for the 2000 Olympiad, with estimated income at $975 million, including $488 million from television rights, $207 million from local sponsorship and $139 million from tickets. Organisers estimate the Olympics will cost $960 million to host, making a theoretical surplus of $15 million. But the Australian government views the Games as a means to boost the country's building and tourist industry. The federal government gave financial support to the bid with a $207 million loan in 1991 while the state of New South Wales provided $17.25 million for expenses and agreed to underwrite any shortfall. In concrete terms, Sydney already has about 65 percent of Olympic venues completed or under construction. The plan has 14 of the 25 Summer Olympic sports within walking distance to the Olympic village at Homebush, 14 km (nine miles) west of the city. The village would house all 10,000 athletes in one place for the first time in Olympic history. Another six events would be held at Darling Harbour, next to the city centre and accessible by ferry from the village. The other five venues, including yachting and equestrian, would take a maximum of 30 minutes travelling time from Homebush. The bid has even enlisted scientists to develop a hi-tech swimming pool which should guarantee world records. The environment has also been integral to the bid and the campaigning group Greenpeace helped design the village, which will use solar panels and recycle water. Distance could be a problem but Elphinston said Sydney had promised to match Beijing's offer to pay for air travel and accommodation for an expected 15,000 athletes and officials. The Olympic flags have already been put up, fluttering alongside the road, from atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge, from warehouses, offices, and hotels. The decision remains to be made. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Sydney in Position for 2000, Frontrunner Awaits IOC's Decision ...... 157 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: Jian Source: The Washington Post, August 24, 1993 Byline: Kathleen Burns The International Olympic Committee's decision on September 23 will have a profound effect here. This city emerged early in the summer as the clear frontrunner for the Summer Olympics in the year 2000, the proof coming with the release of an IOC report that ranked Sydney well ahead of other bidders. Beijing remains ranked somewhere in the middle, with the IOC report citing drawbacks such a language problems, air pollution and outdated sports facilities. But Bruce Baird, the state minister for transport who is shepherding Sydney's bid, has neither gloated about Beijing's state of affairs nor let his own city remain an overconfident and passive frontrunner. "There's no guarantee we are going to win. I still believe that Beijing is our major opponent," he said. "Sydney is the athlete's choice and Beijing is the political choice." Baird has tried to cool the euphoria by emphasizing that Salt Lake City had won praise for the technical aspects of its bid for the 1992 Winter Olympics, and still lost in the final ballots to Lillehammer, as did Melbourne for the 1996 Summer Games, which had been considered a leading contender but came in fourth to Atlanta. His reserve is not shared by some of the local newspapers, which proclaimed Sydney's "perfect bid" in their banner headlines. And all along the city's harbor front, colorful pennants on flagpoles and on skycrapers urged residents to "share the spirit" of the city's Olympic effort. Sydney's apparent lead after two grueling years is due, in part, to the non-stop lobbying of four men. Roderick McGeoch, 47, chief executive officer for Sydney Olympics 2000, is a lawyer with the Australian firm of Corrs, Westgarth and Chambers; he was recruited for the effort by a headhunting firm. He plays rugby and is a keen tennis player and golfer, with an encyclopedic knowledge of sporting trivia, according to his associates. John Coates, 43, also is a lawyer; he specializes in sports management and is a rower. Phil Coles, 60, who competed in canoeing and kayaking at the Olympics in 1964, '68 and '72, also is active in sports administration. He is secretary general of the Australian Olympic Committee. The final member of the group is Graham Lovett, 54, who specializes in sports marketing, in general, and tennis, in particular. He is on the executive board of the New South Wales Rugby League. Their efforts to actively pursue the Games began in 1990 after Melbourne lost its bid for 1996. At that time, the state government put up $ 7 million with the stipulation that the private sector would have to match it. The private sector was able to raise $ 9.8 million and Prime Minster Paul Keating also pledged $ 3.5 million to the bid effort. Nick Greiner, who was then premier of New South Wales state government, came up with the idea of donating $ 8 million from eight of the state's horse racing proceeds that normally would go to the state's coffers. "So it hasn't cost the taxpayers much," said Hamish Fraser, spokesman for Sydney Olympics 2000. "And [for] the money they have spent [for the bid] they have gotten good value, and the image [of the city] has been considerably lifted. It's a pretty sound investment." In going after the bid, Sydney is believed to be the only city that has won unconditional written approval from all 25 international federations for the sports involved in the Games. It also has tried to minimize the one negative variable that critics say could send the Games askew -- union upheaval in this very pro-union country. But Michael Easson, secretary of the labor council of New South Wales, has promised in writing that there would be no labor disputes to prevent the Olympic facilities in the Homebush region of Sydney (where the athletes housing would be located) from being completed on time and within budget. The lobbyists have emphasized that one of the strong suits of Sydney and Australia is multicultural diversity. And, in its preliminary report, the IOC recognized the 140 different ethnic groups that live and work in the city. Sydney has 40 members on its bid committee and has worked to include representation of all factions, including the indigenous people, Fraser said, as well as a full-time staff of 40 involved in the bid office. (He said among the criticisms the city has gotten from other competitors is the problem with the hole in the ozone layer over Australia. But Fraser said the layer is more depleted in July in Berlin than it would be from Sept. 16 to Oct. 1 in the Southern Hemisphere, which is early Spring there.) Transportation also would not pose any problems, he said, with an extensive system of trains, buses and ferry boats already in place. In the IOC report, the 10 members unanimously cited Sydney's "solid bid and safe environment" for the Games, coupled with bipartisan support "across the board, including the federal and state governments, the city, the business community and local population ... the trade unions and environmentalists." The report was particularly complimentary of the emphasis on the sporting nature of the competition itself. "The commission felt that the concept of the Games was based on priority to the athletes," the report said. "One Olympic Village, enabling all participating athletes to fully enjoy the Olympic experience, is a positive factor." Eleven of the facilities proposed for the 2000 Olympics already exist, three are under construction and seven would be constructed regardless of whether Sydney was awarded the Games. Four other venues are dependent on the bid's outcome. Of these facilities, the IOC inquiry committee said that eight would require no change and three would require only minor modifications. Sydney's $ 210 million Olympic Park already is under construction and will include an International Athletic Center and International Aquatic Center. When the winning bid is announced in September, 70 percent of the facilities already will be in place or nearing completion. Sydney's bid is viewed as the most conservative of the six contenders and probably the most realistic, with a proposed cost of $ 975 million and a profit of $ 15 million versus Berlin, which estimates a cost of $ 2.232 billion; Beijing, $ 1.140 billion; Manchester, $ 1.451 billion; Istanbul, $ 1.232 billion; and Brasilia, $ 1.040 billion. Another plus for Sydney, according to the committee report, was the emphasis on the environment, which was an integral part of the city's bid. There had been 102 entries in the design competition for the creation of the Olympic site, and Greenpeace had one of the finalists. The guidelines included global warming, ozone depletion, protecting living species, pollution and resource depletion. As a result of the Sydney plan, the "International Olympic Committee wants to add the environment to sport and culture as the third dimension of the Olympic movement," said Sydney Olympics 2000's McGeoch. In the athletes' village design proposed for the 650 hectare site, owned by the New South Wales state government in the Homebush region of Sydney, the buildings would use solar power, water recycling and public transport. The design would require no air conditioning and refrigerators would have no ozone-destroying gases. In the sporting facilities, recyclable building materials would be used along with energy-efficient systems and water recycling. For the event management, there would be electronic mail to reduce the need for paper along with multi-use tickets and a minimal amount of packaging for food products. Companies tendering for contracts would have to satisfy the environmental guidelines. Sydney accommodations for Olympic visitors also received good reviews from the IOC committee, which termed it "excellent in general" with good potential for future requirements. Eighty-five percent of all visitor accommodations are within one hour of the Olympic Park, where 14 or the 25 sports will be held. Of the six vying cities, only Sydney has a formal deed of agreement in place with the hotel and motel industry for the supply and pricing of rooms. The only negative aspect for Sydney was quarantine arrangements for some horses, "which may cause some inconvenience for a few countries," but are not a major problem. And as the announcement date approaches, Sydney's bid still looks strong. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Olympics Can't Seem to Sidestep Politics ............................. 80 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: A CND Reader via soc.culture.china Source: USA Today July 15, 1993 Written by: Steve Woodward The Olympic Games deflect politics like an old umbrella in a driving rain: However noble the effort, nature eventually prevails. While the spectacle has managed to overcome virtually every man-made obstacle except world wars -- it was called off in 1916, 1940 and 1944 -- the Olympic movement and its caretakers rarely avoid the torrent of world affairs. A current example finds the International Olympic Committee drawn, unwillingly, into a public debate focusing on Beijing's bid to host the 2000 Summer Games. Three U.S. congressmen -- Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., and Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz. -- have sponsored resolutions urging the IOC to reject Beijing's candidacy in denouncement of China's human rights record. At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday in Washington, two U.S. Olympic officials will testify that these resolutions threaten long-term problems for the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, as well as Salt Lake City's forthcoming bid for the 2002 Winter Games. A report released this week by the IOC's Inquiry Commission, the group charged with detailed review of Olympic host candidates, suggested China's campaign for the Olympic Games might stumble due to strictly apolitical shortcomings. It mentioned problems with environmental standards and public transportation. But concerns remain that Chinese officials looking for someone to blame if Beijing loses will turn to Congress, which might mean a boycott of Atlanta. "That," said U.S. Olympic Committee President LeRoy Walker, "is where the danger lies." Walker is scheduled to testify before lawmakers along with Anita DeFrantz, a voting member of the IOC from Los Angeles and 1976 Olympic rowing medalist. She also sits on the USOC's Board of Directors. Bradley and DeConcini will appear before the panel as well. A similar resolution in the House already has received a subcommittee's approval. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he won't go along with the resolutions. Salt Lake City twice has been passed over as a Winter Olympics host -- and is hoping a third bid will be golden. More than ever, Olympic hosts are targets of heightened public awareness in an increasingly global society. Human rights and environmental protection groups, among others, view the Olympic Games as a ready forum for debating broader issues: -- Calls for boycotts of the Lillehammer (Norway) 1994 Winter Olympics soon followed Norway's announcement that it might resume commercial whale hunting. -- Some feel Berlin's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics is weakened by opposition within Germany, where citizens groups have violently protested the high cost of staging the Games. -- Sydney Olympic officials asked Greenpeace, the worldwide environmental organization, to help design and later endorse an athletes' village for the 2000 bid. Still, IOC members insist they will not be influenced by special-interest groups. Samaranch dismissed the impact of congressional resolutions, saying his objective is to "preserve the independence of the (IOC)." However, IOC spokesman Andrew Napier recently acknowledged that "the issue the U.S. Congress raises about human rights (in China) is a factor to be considered." But the 93 IOC voters cast the only ballots that count. "Our process has worked very well, and it will continue to work well," DeFrantz said. "We're deciding where a two-week sports event will be held. We're not deciding the fate of a nation." When the IOC Inquiry Commission inspects candidate cities, members concentrate on tours of sports arenas, athlete dormitories and other elements of the infrastructure. Yet Samaranch himself frequently alludes to the larger role of the Olympic movement. In responding to criticisms of China's human rights record, he has suggested that the event "could help open a country," mentioning the 1988 Summer Games host, Seoul, South Korea. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. China Olympic Opponents Target Sponsors .............................. 55 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: Jian Source: AFP August 25, 1993 NEW YORK - A human rights group has asked Olympic corporate sponsors to help defeat Beijing's bid for the 2000 Summer Games, but received no support from the multi million-dollar firms. Human Rights Watch said Wednesday it sent letters dated August 2 to the top executives of 17 Olympic sponsors. The group opposes the bid because of Chinese political and religous repression, including the Tiananmen Square violence of 1989. "Given China's widely condemned human rights record, a Beijing-based Olympiad is likely to seriously damage the prestige of the Olympic Games. In that event, your company's public image could also suffer by association," the letter by Human Rights Watch chairman Robert Bernstein said. "I hope you will seriously consider the possible implications of a Beijing Olympiad and use your influence on behalf of human rights." While such influence might take place privately, several companies have said they will remain neutral on the matter of site selection. A statement from the Coca-Cola Company said the Atlanta-based soft drink maker is "consistently neutral on the issue of site selection." Coca-Cola has announced plans to open 10 bottling plants in China. Eastman Kodak Company spokesman Paul Allen said "Kodak remains neutral in the site selection for the Olympic Games." Visa USA spokesman Brad Hennig said, "We're sympathetic to the cause," but added "we do try to remain as non-political as possible." Visa estimated last month that 2.2 million Chinese will soon use their credit cards to spent more than 12 billion a year. Paul Allaire, chairman of Xerox Corporation, wrote a reply to Human Rights Watch that in part said, "We are sensitive to your position and will continue to assess the situation as developments unfold." These firms, along with Matsushita, Ricoh and Time Warner are members of an Olympic sponsor group that pays 40 million dollars each for worldwide Olympic exclusive rights. Sponsors finance roughly half of an Olympic budget, with television rights fees bringing another large percentage. Other companies receiving the letter include Matsushita, Time Warner, 3M, Nike, BSN SA, Asics Tiger, Federal Express, Hattori Seiko, Mars, Ricoh, Adidas, Philips and Brother Industries. "These are major players in the Olympic movement and they have opinions about where the Games should be held," said Richard Dicker, an attorney for the human rights group. Bernstein's letter rebuked International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch for lack of support. The letter also detailed reports of torture to two former Chinese protesters and said, "selecting Beijing will provide the Chinese leadership with a unique stamp of international approval. ... Democracy activists will rightly infer that (the IOC) has forgotten or forgiven what happened at Tiananmen Square." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.Time Right for China's Olympics ..................................... 128 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: A CND Reader via soc.culture.china Source: Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune ; June 11, 1993 By: Jay Weiner The decision of where to send the Summer Olympic Games of the year 2000 is three months away -- three months and four years since thousands of demonstrators for democracy were killed in Tiananmen Square, since thousands more were jailed, since torture and solitary confinement were intensified, according to human rights groups. Beijing, with at least $10 million invested in the bid, is the front-runner, according to Olympic insiders, but it's not a lock. Many factors will influence which city wins. China, where victories in sport do honor to the Communist system, has stirred a political storm in its quest for the world's most prestigious and lucrative sports event. "If we have to make the decision right now, I prefer not to go to Beijing," said Zhang. "If it happens in two years, that could be different. I could change my position." Zhang said he and millions of Chinese are waiting for their government to simply say, "We were wrong" when the tanks rolled in and the gunfire erupted on June 3, 1989. Zhang is concerned that an Olympics in China will become a payoff for the political powers-that-be. "Who has the right to see the Olympics?" he asked. "Who can afford to pay for it? Who's the lucky one to get a ticket? If you have no involvement in the democracy movement, will that be a yardstick for tickets?" Zhang wonders about the cost-benefit of an Olympics. The Chinese government is prepared to spend well over $1 billion to host the Games. Still, the prime issue swirling around Beijing's bid is human rights and the awarding of the Olympics before the dust has really settled on 1989. The head of the Beijing organizing committee is Chen Xitong, the Beijing mayor in '89 who ordered troops to Tiananmen Square. "Students hate him the most," said Zhang. "This is an act of unbelievable insensitivity, if not arrogance, to have this guy greet the IOC delegates to convince them this could be the site of an Olympics in a more open China," said Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch in New York. Chen is doing more than greeting. "We look upon the International Olympic Committee as God," Chen told the People's Daily. "Their wish is our command." During an IOC visit to Beijing last spring, Chen organizfour to 15 years, have been released from prison. This action seemed tied to China's desire for most-favored-nation trade status by the United States and to win the Olympic bid. President Clinton extended China's trade status last month -- with human rights provisions attached. Dicker characterizes the releases as "a smile offensive," with most of the dissidents gaining their freedom only months before their lengthy sentences were to expire. He said Human Rights Watch believes "thousands more" remain in jail. Anita DeFrantz, the only U.S. member of the IOC, says she is aware of Human Rights Watch's concerns; the organization also has Turkey and Brazil on its "gross abuse" list. "That includes half of the bid cities," DeFrantz said. "I believe my job as an IOC member is to hear all the arguments and then decide." She has visited Beijing, Berlin, Brasilia and Sydney and won't make up her mind until she sees the others and hears final presentations. DeFrantz, who, as an Olympic rower, was critical of the 1980 boycott of the Moscow Olympics, said she has her own checklist. With a chuckle, she said, "Oddly enough, it begins with how the athletes would be treated. Would they have a fair and safe way to test their destiny? That's where I start. "Then I ask, `How will the Olympic movement be treated?' Then I ask about the city itself." IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch doesn't expect a controversy over China's human rights policies. "It's like a glass of water, no?" said Samaranch "Maybe it's half empty or maybe it's half full. Maybe, thanks to the Olympic Games, they will change many, many things." Others believe that China's changing economic situation demands that the West, especially the United States, engage China and not isolate it. China's economy is growing at 13 percent annually. With the boom, living conditions and social relations are changing. Robert MacGregor, president of the Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility, thinks awarding the Games to Beijing would impose "a showcase-like spotlight that I think can have a positive effect." MacGregor, just back from a tour of new factories in south China, said the exploding economy is expanding freedoms. He says it's a close call but he favors awarding the Olympics to China with the thought that the Games would move the country to "a more responsible world standard on human rights." MacGregor says China is projected to be, by the year 2010, the most powerful economic nation in the world. "In the self-interest of people in the United States, we ought to take every opportunity to do business with them," he said. Market forces drive the IOC decisions. For the Atlanta Olympics, worldwide sponsors, companies permitted to use the Olympic rings on their products, are paying at least $40 million. China wants relationships with those giant corporations. Corporations want relationships with China. But there are more subtle issues within Olympic circles that will help determine which city is chosen. Most of those deep-pocketed sponsors use their rights fees as down-payments on lavish hospitality programs, so they can take key customers and employees to the Olympics. Some potential sponsors worry about the quality of accommodations and telecommunications in Beijing. Also, with the 1998 Winter Olympics set for Nagano, Japan, some IOC members have expressed an unwillingness to return to Asia in 2000. Sydney is running close to Beijing because it is the easy way. U.S. television networks prefer Australia because it is an English-speaking country. The IOC can justify Sydney because the Games haven't been in the southern hemisphere since 1956 in Melbourne. But, if the IOC makes a splash by awarding the Games to Beijing, that might set the stage for the first Olympics in Africa, perhaps as early as 2004. According to some Olympic insiders, the 15 African votes on the IOC are shying away from Sydney because they want the next southern hemisphere Games on their continent, maybe even in South Africa, a site Samaranch covets. ============================================================================ For communication with IOC, the address is International Olympic Committee Lausanne, Switzerland ============================================================================ +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editors: Chengyan Liu (U.S.A.) & XU Ming Yang (Australia) | | Coordinating Editor: XU Ming Yang | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest (CND) offers the following services: | | (1) Global News (Daily) (2) US Regional News | | (3) Canada Regional News (4) Europe & Pacific Regional News | | (5) Hua Xia Wen Zhai (Weekly Chinese Magazine) | | (6) InfoBase: anon FTP to CND.ORG[132.249.229.100]:pub/InfoBase | | To subscribe or get info, mail request to: CND-INFO@CND.ORG | | To contribute news, please send it to: CND-EDITOR@CND.ORG | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+