OLY: Rogge to reap rewards after three years in charge

AAP General News (Australia)
08-12-2004
OLY: Rogge to reap rewards after three years in charge

By Ossian Shine

ATHENS, Aug 12 Reuters - In the three years since he took up the job he looks to have
aged a decade, but on Friday Olympic President Jacques Rogge will reap the reward for
his travails when he opens the 2004 Games.

"People should be judged by their results, not by the noise they make," the Belgian
said on his appointment to the most powerful job in world sport in 2001.

That is how 62-year-old Rogge will be judged as he presides over his first Summer Games
as president following a tough three years at the top.

A highly respected surgeon with a squeaky-clean background, it came as no surprise
when the International Olympic Committee turned to Rogge to become its leader in 2001.

The body of sporting titans had been hurt by the biggest corruption scandal in its
history - the Salt Lake City affair - and was continuing to face the perennial problem
of drugs.

Rogge, a yachtsman at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics, was described as an "elegant,
dignified, capable man" by fellow members and was seen as the perfect figure to nurse
the organisation back to health.

The IOC's image had been badly tarnished by the Salt Lake City bribery scandal in 1999
which led to 10 members leaving the organisation for breaking rules on accepting gifts
from the U.S. city when it was bidding successfully for the 2002 Winter Games.

It was clear that Rogge would need to fall back on his reputation for having a calm
hand in a storm but nobody could have foreseen the events which would change the face
of world politics just months into his tenure as president.

The attack on New York's World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, plunged the world
into deeper turmoil regarding terrorism and security and Rogge has had to prove his mettle
in a series of stressful situations.

The Belgian was to preside over those Salt Lake City Winter Games just five months
after the terror attacks. Security concerns were paramount and Rogge met U.S. President
George W. Bush about increasing the security budget.

He also had to tread carefully in a series of talks with Russian President Vladimir
Putin and Russian sports chiefs to successfully avert the threat of a boycott of the Salt
Lake City Winter Games.

The Russians had been unhappy at what they perceived as biased voting.

In the event, those Games went off without a hitch and Rogge was over his first hurdle,
but it was evident he faced a very different job from that of predecessor Juan Antonio
Samaranch.

Rogge's major pledge has been to ensure the Olympics are clean in terms of corruption
and clean in terms of doping.

He has done a great deal of lobbying to ensure the World Anti-Doping Agency's Anti-Doping
Code is adopted globally, and by the start of the Games on Friday, every major sports
federation within the Olympics will have signed up.

The workload would seem to have taken its toll. His hair is more grey and the lines
more deeply etched on his face.

A little over a year ago he underwent heart surgery in his native Belgium to fix a
faulty heart valve.

The troubles plaguing the organisation of the Athens Olympics can hardly have helped
his health nor state of mind.

Previously chief inspector of the Athens Games, Rogge has had to keep up the pressure
on Athens organisers as they have dallied with deadlines and toyed with disaster ahead
of the 2004 Summer Games.

His stern no-nonsense warnings issued in February last year appear to have done the
trick, though, and everything is set for what he says will be an excellent Games from
August 13-29.

The brinkmanship of Greek organisation left him sweating until the last minute, however.

Reuters nh

KEYWORD: OLY ROGGE

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