THE IRISH TIMES Saturday, July 14, 2001 Tom Humphries For the western media sitting in surly groups around the press room in the world trade centre it was a glimpse of the new world. On the big screen Juan Antonio Samaranch stepped to the podium. As just two rounds of voting had passed it seemed unlikely that the result could be anything but a Beijing win. Thus it was announced and soon the room was filled with thunderous cheering. Chinese journalists everywhere, jumping up and down slapping each other's backs and at the same time grabbing their cameras and recorders to immortalise the moment. It used to be that the Americans were the biggest press contingent at these events. Now they'll be lucky to get into the auxiliary press rooms. In the city which Churchill once described as being a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, China, which makes Moscow look bubbly and upfront by comparison, won the right to host the Olympic Games . Thus begins an awkward few years of the world getting to know China and China getting to know the world. First thing that struck the world yesterday was that there were many hands to shake. One and a quarter billion to be approximate about it. What change the looming Olympic Games and the prospect of entertaining the world in its living room will have on Chinese society is a moot point. Yesterday the International Olympic Committee were prepared to take matters relating to human rights and freedom of expression on trust and the Chinese weren't asked a single question about their future approach in these things. Toronto by comparison was grilled and punished for a crassly politically incorrect comment made by its mayor while jesting with hacks last month. The emphatic nature of the vote - Beijing won in the second round of a competition expected to go to a fourth round - underlined not just the lack of debate within the IOC on the human rights issue but the sense of guilt the Committee felt at having seen Beijing miss out by two votes to Sydney at this stage in 1993. Beijing of course had it's its trump card to play, its population. The city itself may be home to a modest 14 million but it is the gateway to 1.25 billion compatriots . The IOC felt a little debt and Beijing lobbied well this time, pulling in favours from Africa and South America and sending their representatives out into the fields to beat the votes out of the bushes. At every meeting, every Olympic gathering for the last five years Beijing has been there making friends, shaking hands. This week the IOC decided not to punish it's new friends with embarrassing questions. By yesterday there was talk that Beijing might sweep the vote on the first round. It almost came to pass. The nabobs of world sport spent the day watching presentations from the bidding cities. Of the presentations viewed in the morning most IOC members were actually surprised to find that they liked Osaka's light and friendly theme the best. Paris was judged to have been a little hi-tech and a little disjointed. Toronto failed to nail their distinctiveness from Canada and afterwards a French-speaking African representative asked the bid committee an embarrassing question about Mayor Mel Lastman . Toronto had sought to bury Lastman under a pile of apologies but he cropped up on the video presentation, thus reminding members of his comment last month that he was afraid to go to Africa because he saw himself "in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me." Key IOC members weren't going to let that one rest easily. Said one: "That's the sort of thing that goes boom in the final days." Boom it went. Judge Keba Mbaye of Senegal intervened to end Canadian discomfort saying that an apology, many of them indeed had been issued and that the issue should lie. Outside the Canadians privately blamed the Paris bid for having planted the question. If it were so, punishment wasn't long in coming to the French. In the fevered world of rumour and counter rumour the French lost out badly in the final couple of days, losing their nerve badly and - even with Lionel Jospin and Zinedine Zidane being part of the pitch team - slumping to fourth position behind Istanbul in the first round. Most damaging was one of those vaporous rumours which wafted through the halls on Thursday to the effect that if the European vote didn't harden up for Paris and harden up fast they would be organising a push against the presidential candidacy of Belgium's Jacques Rogge on Monday. The Parisians are keen to come in again for 2012. They will have bridges to mend before they start work on any stadiums. There were other cats among the pigeons of course. Sinan Erdem , the immensely popular Turkish IOC member, was said to be rounding up allies with the frank admission that he accepted Istanbul's inevitable defeat but that a first round vote would be appreciated as this was the city's third successive attempt and, in the process, Istanbul had greatly promoted Olympism and he didn't want to travel home in shame. This was a persuasive line for some and added to the panic of the Parisians in the closing days. When the first round votes were counted Erdem's work bidding had been done. Istanbul were two ahead of Paris. Still that was as much as there would be as regards side show. The fifteen 15 or so younger athlete delegates appointed last year were almost totally behind Toronto, which had been found to be the most athlete-friendly bid. How much weight this carries with the rest of the IOC is revealed perhaps by the fact that Toronto got just 20 votes in the first round. Beijing of course had it's its trump card to play, its population. No matter what way you look at it, that's a lot of viewers, a lot of customers, a lot of helpers. The city itself may be home to a modest 14 million but it is the gateway to 1.25 billion compatriots . One fifth of the world. They pressed the staggering statistic home in subtle ways. The Toronto presentation mentioned that already 80,000 Canadians had signed up to be volunteers at the 2008 Games. After lunch Beijing dropped in the fact that half a million of its citizens had d one the same. Enough said. The Chinese proposed a games centred in an area on the northern outskirts of the city. Now known as Beiding, this will become Olympic Green. 1250 hectares incorporating an Olympic village, stadia , gymnastics arenas and swimming facilities. With the Russian hosts obligingly keeping free Tibetan campaigners and other human rights groups miles away from the Congress Centre, media attention on the human rights issue was starved of pictorial material. Starved of pictures the story had to be something else. Beijing got away lightly. Human rights was never truly discussed by the IOC members who, sensing a return to the grand old days when they hobnobbed with the great leaders of the world, decided that they could help determine the political complexion of the world's most populous nation. That sense of being not just in charge of sport but being on a moral plane somewhere above it permeates more than it should still. Juan Antonio Samaranch with his endless wheedling about Olympic truces and years for nothing less than the nobel peace prize as a fitting tribute to his public life. In the meantime to live to see thousands of white doves released over a stadium in Beijing and choirs of children sing about harmony and as the Coke sign flashes in the background would be sufficient. All week Beijing appeared to have retained its lead, getting stronger according to most sources and in fairness that wasn't just down to geo-politics. When the Chinese came to Monte Carlo in 1993 expecting to win and went home cradling an embarrassing defeat they impressed the IOC in two ways. There was none of the public bellyaching which emanates from other losing bids. They quietly set about learning from the conquerors. Firstly they learned the oily arts of PR. In Monte Carlo the Chinese had arrived alone and left alone. It was difficult to gauge either the levels of official enthusiasm or public support for the bid. Their slogan "A More Open China for the 2000 Games" was dreadful and their dealings wit h the world were heavy-handed. In the eight years since the People's Republic set about convincing corporate sponsors and its own people, including some selected dissidents, that Beijing was a natural Olympic city. Beijing made the movement, the rest of the world stood still and let them approach. They met little resistance though. Several of the key endorsements they waved in the last few weeks were from dissidents who might have been expected to be sceptical but instead expressed the hope that glasnost was near. Beijing's $24 million bid was heavily bankrolled by foreign corporate sponsors. The IOC loved that touch, seeing itself as a paternalistic presence guiding China into the First World while soothing its internal rumblings. The political issue was almost willed away. Mayor Liu Qi of Beijing, also the bid leader, repeated time after time that " we stick to the principle that we should separate the Olympic movement from politics", blithely ignoring suggestions that giving China the games would be an acutely political act. The Chinese went further in the other direction though. They tapped straight into the source, buying help from Australian consultant Peter Phillips and then headhunting, one after the other, the five key organisers of last year's Sydney Games. Late last year all six Australians spent long days and nights in Beijing, chiselling out documents and fashioning an approach for the run-in which would include a visit in February form the IOC's evaluation commission. Two PR firms were also hired, one in New York and one in London, but the first big steps in bridging the cultural gap between East and West had finger prints all over them. Dye the grass green. Don't call the Falun Going an "evil cult". Sweep poverty off the streets. Make the traffic lights go green from airport to IOC hotel. If they ask why you eat dogs, smile and say why do you eat horses. Also making a tangible difference was the personal popularity of China's three IOC members, in particular Zhenliang. He who is a sort of father figure for many serving IOC members. At meeting after meeting in the last few years the twinkling smile and the happy handshake would be accompanied by the same message, don't forget Beijing. The old austerity was replaced by friendly faces. The final touch came this week. Instead of stonewalling media questions about their human rights record their delegates smiled on cue every time, agreed that the question was a good one, said that they were learning and expressed the hope that they would learn more. Next question please. They rolled out a series of celebrities from Cathy Freeman to Placido Domingo, all speaking in favour of their bid and finally unveiled a snappy, western style presentation for the IOC yesterday afternoon revolving around the slogan "New Beijing, Great Olympics." They still have opinion polls too. A Gallup poll conducted by the Chinese Olympic Committee revealed 95% per cent support for the bid among Beijing residents. True anything else would have been suprising given the lack of information sources available to respondents but at least the poll showed an awareness of the importance of public support. Beijing lacked that eight years ago. Finally, when the result was announced, Chinese leaders and celebrities well NBA players, appeared in the Moscow mayhem as if they had just burst out of a birthday cake. It was a happy and uninhibited scene as pictures from Beijing were beamed into Moscow and the Chinese celebrated together. At such a moment it would have been churlish to ask about human rights, the labour camps, the falun gong or any of the other issues which make China's cupboard rattle with the sound of bones, but the next seven years will be interesting. A new friendship can seldom had have so many issues to resolve. Eamonn Condon www.RunnersGoal.com
