Advice to coaches

Leadership without support is like trying to make bricks without enough straw. True leaders reinforce their ideas and plans with strategic partnerships, alliances
and supportive audiences.

Champions

Champions in any field of endeavor always rise to the occasion. Champions see what they can become rather than live in the past. Champions view life as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

-Reed Markham, Olympic News Service

Jacques Rogge, 114th IOC session, Mexico City

Your Excellency Mr President of the United States of Mexico,

Vicente Fox Quesada,

Your Excellency Mr Mayor of Mexico City, Andrés Manuel

López Obrador,

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the IOC, I wish to warmly thank our Mexican friends

for their excellent hospitality.

The Olympic Movement owes a debt of gratitude to Mexico.

Their athletes have won 10 gold medals, and 15 silver and 23

bronze medals at the Olympic Games.

Mexico staged marvellous Olympic Games in 1968, and the

memories of these and the football World Cups in 1970 and 1986

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will remain with us for ever. Few countries can boast such a

contribution to world sport.

It is likewise a pleasure for me to greet Mexico’s great sports

leaders.

President Ruben Acosta expertly leads the International Volleyball

Federation. President Olegario Vázquez Raña does the same, at

the International Shooting Sport Federation. Our colleague Pedro

Rámirez Vázquez has left us an extraordinary legacy with

Olympic House in Vidy and the Olympic Museum. Dr Eduardo

Hay has played a key role in the Medical Commission alongside

Prince Alexandre de Merode.

I wish also to thank the President of the Mexican Olympic

Committee, Felipe Munoz Kapamas, an Olympic champion at the

Games in Mexico City, and all his staff, for their support.

Of course, on behalf of us all, I extend my warmest thanks to our

host, Mario Vázquez Raña, President of ANOC, who has

contributed so much to the development of the Olympic

Movement.

Thank you, dear colleagues, for your legendary generosity.

Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The 114th IOC Session will be a particularly important one. It

will enable us to take the measures needed to ensure the future

development of the IOC and the Olympic Movement.

Studying the various audits on the IOC administration will allow

us to become more efficient.

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Pursuing the reforms initiated in 1999 will make our institution

even more transparent, modern and democratic.

Assessing how to reduce the size and cost of the Games is

necessary for these to be staged under optimum conditions in the

future.

Examining the Olympic programme, which the IOC needs to do at

regular intervals, will enable us to maintain interest in the

Olympic Games worldwide.

I am counting on numerous interventions from you, dear

colleagues, to enrich these debates.

Dear Colleagues, sport is a great social movement and cannot

remain isolated from the problems of society.

Thirty years ago, the Games were hit by the massacre in Munich.

Six years ago, a bomb attack marred the Games in Atlanta.

The IOC wishes to pay a renewed tribute to these innocent

victims.

The events in Munich, those of 11 September and the reemergence

of international terrorism make security the number

one priority for any sports organisation.

Let us rejoice in the knowledge that, while terrorism seeks to bring

peoples, cultures and religions into conflict, and the risk of armed

conflict in the world remains acute, sport showed in Salt Lake

City, and will do so again in the future, that it is a factor of

universality and brotherhood. While we cannot escape the turmoil

of society, we can give the world the values that inspire us.

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The serious economic crisis that we are currently experiencing is

also affecting sport and its funding. The IOC has been spared this,

thanks to the visionary policy of President Juan Antonio

Samaranch and his Executive Board colleagues, which enabled

long-term contracts to be signed.

The IOC is nonetheless very concerned about the difficulties that

many sports organisations, International Federations and National

Olympic Committees are currently facing in finding the funds they

need for their development. The IOC has a duty to help its

partners.

In the mid to long term, the policy of cost-cutting and reducing the

size of the Olympic Games should allow us to free up more

revenue for the Olympic family.

The policy of solidarity geared towards developing countries and

sports with less media coverage should be continued.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues,

In spite of this difficult economic, political and social

environment, sport, I am certain, will remain popular and continue

to impart its beneficial educational values to young people.

But to maintain this eminent role for sport, we have to meet

various challenges. Sport will have a social value and can transmit

its own values only if it respects the rules f ethics and retains a

humanist dimension.

We must continue to fight fiercely against doping. The IOC

showed its determination at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City,

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by tripling the number of tests and punishing more athletes at

these Games than in the previous 18 editions.

The IOC will use all its strength to support the development of the

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), as this strategy alone will

enable us to make our fight more effective. To achieve this,

WADA will have to ensure its own funding, and governments

must face up to their responsibilities in this area.

WADA must also succeed in its efforts to harmonise rules. I call

upon all the members of the Olympic family and all governments

to join forces in this vital task. There should be no place at the

Games for those who do not wish to fight alongside us.

A growing number of disputes are casting doubts over the quality

of the decisions of referees and judges.

The IOC calls on all the International Federations to be

particularly vigilant in this area, which is their responsibility.

I thank those International Federations which have made a special

effort to improve refereeing and judging. This is the price to pay

in order to regain the confidence of the public and the athletes.

The Olympic Movement must show no mercy in dealing with any

form of corruption or manipulation in this area.

It also has a major responsibility in terms of protecting the health

of athletes, which is being endangered by an unreasonable

increase in the number of sports competitions or by overtraining.

The IOC Medical Commission is exemplary in the way it is

addressing this with its counterparts in the International

Federations and National Olympic Committees.

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The Olympic Movement also has a responsibility, one shared by

the athletes themselves, to tackle the issue of social reintegration

at the end of their sports career. Numerous efforts are being made

in this area by governments, National Olympic Committees, the

International Federations and the World Olympians Association.

The IOC will play its part in these initiatives.

Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sport is a formidable educational tool for young people. It

strengthens the body and mind; it inculcates a sense of

community; it teaches respect for authority and refereeing

decisions; it offers health, identity and hope. It integrates

minorities into society. For these values alone, it deserves the

support of society.

Sport nonetheless also has a higher dimension derived from values

and ethics, which transcends its social relevance.

Sport is also built of brotherhood, universality, respect for others,

justice and generosity. These are the values that we all have a

duty to defend.

Jacques Rogge, 9th World Conference on Sport and the Environment

Your Highnesses and Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen

Dear Colleagues,

This 9

year away from the 20

will help ensure that we mark that occasion with a renewed environmental commitment and a clear

agenda for action.

The 1992 Earth Summit was a seminal event for the environmental movement. It helped create a new

awareness and a sense of urgency around environmental issues. It encouraged individuals, corporations,

governments, NGOs and other entities to act on their environmental responsibilities. It helped change the

way we think about natural resources that we once took for granted.

The Olympic Movement and the world of sport responded to the call.

Our commitment to the environment is more than just a matter of self-interest. It is a matter of values.

The Olympic Movement exists to place sport at the service of humanity.

We also have an obligation to use sport as a tool for positive change at the societal level. The 1992 Earth

Summit helped us realize that we could serve humanity by serving the environment. After all,

environmental sustainability is linked to our very survival as a species.

Our values require us to act on two levels. First, we must do all we can to ensure that our own activities do

not contribute to environmental degradation. At the same time, we have to use sport as a tool to

encourage environmentally responsible behavior by others.

Two years after the 1992 Earth Summit, environmental issues were at the top of the agenda at the 1994

Centennial Olympic Congress in Paris. As a result of that meeting, the Olympic Movement began to

embrace environmental sustainability as part of its core mission.

th World Conference on Sport and Environment comes at a very opportune time. We are now just ath anniversary of the landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Our work here

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In another major development that year, the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer set a new

standard for environmental responsibility. For the first time, environmental considerations played a major

role in Games planning and operations.

The Lillehammer Games proved that careful planning could significantly reduce the environmental impact

of our premier event.

The year 1994 also marked the beginning of our collaboration with the UN Environmental Programme.

The success of our cooperation in Lillehammer resulted in a true partnership that continues to this day.

With UNEP’s help, environmental considerations have been integrated into every aspect of the Games,

from the earliest planning stage to the post-Games environmental assessment.

Games organisers are now required to include environmental sustainability as a core goal and a central

element of Games legacy planning. Our knowledge transfer programme ensures that environmental

lessons learned at each edition of the Games are shared with future hosts.

These efforts have produced tangible and measureable results. The 2010 Vancouver Games set a new

standard for environmental sustainability in construction practices, energy conservation and legacy

planning. The Olympic Village is considered a model for environmentally responsible urban planning.

I am confident that our record of environmental progress will continue with next year’s Games in London,

the 2014 Games in Sochi and the 2016 Games in Rio.

The new Youth Olympic Games have given us another opportunity to promote environmental awareness.

Reducing the environmental impact of the Games is extremely important in its own right, but it also serves

our goal of encouraging environmentally responsible behavior by others.

In 1999, the IOC and UNEP collaborated on a more direct call to action — Olympic Agenda 21. Olympic

Agenda 21 was an environmental guide for sport organisations patterned after the global Agenda 21 that

resulted from the 1992 Earth Summit.

Since then, National Olympic Committees, International Federations and National Federations have built

on that foundation with their own creative ideas. They have developed innovative environmental toolkits,

sponsored workshops and reduced the impact of world championships and other major competitions.

I congratulate and thank all of you who have helped lead our environmental efforts within your sports and

your organisations. Here, I would also like to extend a word of gratitude to the Chairman and members of

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the Commission on Sport and Environment for their great support and counsel, provided to the Olympic

Movement in a very important aspect of the IOC’s activities.

As we near the 20

environment is stronger than ever. That commitment was reaffirmed at the most recent Olympic Congress

in 2009.

Through the UN Permanent Observer Status granted in 2009, the International Olympic Committee is

more actively involved in contributing to the Rio +20 process and the expected outcomes of the Earth

Summit led by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. An updated Olympic Agenda 21

publication will communicate and address the issue of a renewed call to action for this new millennium.

We have come a long way over the course of the past two decades. We have acknowledged and

accepted our environmental responsibilities. We have moved from environmental awareness to

environmental action. We have forged new partnerships to meet our obligations.

But we have still more to do. We are not here to celebrate past achievements, but to lay the groundwork

for future success. The knowledge we have acquired, the partnerships we have formed and the availability

of new technology are the building blocks for more progress.

It is now up to us to make sure that when the world marks the 20

it can truly be said that the Olympic Movement did its part to protect and preserve our environment.

Thank you, and I wish you a very successful conference.th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit, the Olympic Movement’s commitment to theth anniversary of the 2012 Earth Summit,

Mayor of Athens Delivers A Speech entitled “Countdown to the Athens Olympics” in Washington DC hosted by the Western Policy Center

 Less than 100 days before the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics, the Mayor of Athens, Mrs Dora Bakoyiannis, delivered a speech at an event hosted by the  Western Policy Center, regarding the upcoming Olympic Games of Athens and the final preparations of Greece and of the City of Athens to host the biggest sporting event on the globe. Following is the text of her speech:
Allow me to start by saying two words for Ronald Reagan. Two words described him. The one is a statesman. The other a man. Ronald Reagan changed the world without firing a shot, as Margaret Thatcher so rightly puts it. He was noncollectivist, steady, friendly but firm. On behalf of the Athenian citizens, let me offer his family and the American people our deepest condolences.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear numbers of the press, dear friends, I will only make a brief introductory statement, because with the Olympic Games just nine weeks away, I am sure you are all anxious to raise questions on various pressing issues. Issues, such as the final preparations for the sports venues, and related facilities, security, the cost of staging the largest organized event in the world by the smallest ever country in modern times.
However, in addition to your questions as Mayor of Athens, I would like to address the issue of recent developments in the Greek capital, and particularly the major changes that are taking place with the aim of making the city a more attractive, user-friendly, effective, functional, and even more entertaining for its inhabitants and visitors, and all this not only for but also after the games.
The Olympic Games will come and go, but the City of Athens will remain just as it has remained for 3,000 years, a fact which has earned it the twin titles of Europe's most ancient city, and the historic capital of Europe. Therefore, our city administration is interested not only in helping stage successful Olympic Games, but in the day after, in the so-called post-Olympic period. In the legacy of the games, and the way the city develops in the decades to come.
As you all know, Greece in general, and Athens in particular, has a number of unique historic and cultural advantages in staging the Olympics. After all, the games originated in Greece near 2,800 years ago, and were then revived again in Athens in 1896. As a result, visitors to Greece can still see the original ancient stadium of ancient Olympia, where the Olympics were first organized in 1776 B.C. One event at this year's games, the man and woman shot put, will actually be staged in the awe-inspiring setting, the difference from 2,700 years ago is that women will take part this time.
Similarly, other events at the Athens Olympics will take place in and around locations which have enormous symbolic value for the development of Western Civilization. I'm referring, for example, to the monuments that top the 2,500-year-old Acropolis, around the base of which the Olympic cycling race will take place. Similarly, to the second century B.C. Parthenon Stadium, which was fully restored and remodeled for the revival of the modern games in 1896, for the archery events, and the dramatic finish to the marathon race will take place.
Thirdly, I'm referring to the historic marathon race itself, which will be contested over the original 26-mile course that was first run in 490 B.C. after the battle of Marathon, a battle that staged Athenian democracy and civilization, and subsequently that of the Western World.
Speaking of the Marathon struggle, and despite the considerable and often unfair criticism we have received from sections of the international media, I'm here today to honestly argue that Greece has already broken several Olympic records and should, therefore, be awarded several Gold Medals even before the start of the games. Specifically, Greece is the smallest country ever in modern times to stage the Olympic Games, and it is staging the largest ever Olympic Games. We will host a record number of 202 countries, 11,000 athletes, 21,000 journalists and technical assistants, in all these cases the numbers surpassing those of Sydney and Atlanta.
We are often compared to Finland, another small country that hosted the games in 1952, but remember that those games hosted only 64 countries, and 2,500 athletes, one-quarter of today's figures in Athens. They are the most costly games ever, the budget coming up to an estimated $8.5 billion when you add the cost to the long-term infrastructure projects that were put in place.
On security, we are spending $1.2 billion, four times as much as Sydney, and over five times more than Atlanta spent in 1996. We are deploying 70,000 police and military security personnel, well-trained, again four times more than Sydney. We have a record number of volunteers from Greece and from around the world, though we were criticized originally for not having adequate volunteer interest or international support. Well, the volunteer applications reached the figure of 160,000, as compared to 75,000 who volunteered in Sydney and 78,000 who volunteered in Atlanta.
Ladies and gentlemen, in this particular Marathon race of preparations, Greece has already broken some of the biggest Olympic records, and we hope we will break many more in the games that will take place in two months. The text distributed to you today along with other useful media material outlines the preparations our capital has made so far, and the details that remain to be finalized. I'm sure you will find them both valuable and surprisingly objective, for it not only lists major programs already completed, but also the delays and the compromises that had to be made compared to some of the initial plans.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a practical politician I know only too well the difference between the vision and the realities of concrete policies. We are certainly not perfect, but we are confident that we have done a great job. Confident that we will surprise the world, and stage successful and safe Olympic Games. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today.
I would like to thank the Western Policy Center for its hospitality, and I would like to assure you that Athens is a city which is completely transformed due to the games. Athens, which is a multi-cultural city today, allow me to present to you Mrs. Yvette Chavez (?), who is sitting in our counsel, and who is the first African-American who has been voted by the Greeks, and who will represent Athens during the torch arrival, torch relay in Los Angeles and New York. Ladies and gentlemen, Greece and Athens believe that we will make wonderful gains. We believe that our value system, democracy, human rights, human respect, and Olympic tools will be very well represented in Athens during these games, games to which I invite you all to come over, and you will have a wonderful time.

Tu Mingde, Assistant President of BOCOG, Olympic Torch Forum Speech

   Ladies and Gentlemen,
   Good morning! First, please let me express my congratulations to the Olympic Torch Forum on behalf of BOCOG! I also would like to extend my warm welcome to both foreign and domestic experts and scholars. I would like to thank the sponsors of this forum and the media reporting the forum.
   Cultural activities play a very important role in the Olympics, and the two can at no time be separated. Combining sports and culture not only explores new territory for cultural development, but also makes the Olympic Games a more cultural and more attractive sports event. Only through the involvement of culture does the Olympic Games become a great event that people around the world await with great expectations.
   "Green Olympics, Technology Olympics and Cultural Olympics" are the three concepts of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Among the concepts, "Cultural Olympics" has the richest and most profound significance. The purpose of holding the forum is to carry out the three concepts, especially Cultural Olympics, and to bring forth the splendid Chinese culture so as to enhance related academic studies.
   The Olympic fire was lit in Amsterdam in 1928. The Olympic torch relay was held in Berlin in 1936. Since then it has always been a vastly important part of the Olympics and symbol of the Olympic spirit. The fire of the Olympics represents holiness, sports and the pursuit for world peace which are all reflected in the Olympic spirit.
   The plan for the torch relay for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is far from unveiled. However we are here at this forum discussing the operating mode for the torch relay, especially the plan for the Olympic torch to be passed across Mount Everest, and taking pleasure in sharing our experiences. No doubt, the forum will impel a more mature and practical plan for the torch relay of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Here, right now, we are offering our initial efforts in making the coming torch relay the best in world Olympic history.
   I now declare the start the Torch Forum of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
   Thank you!

IOC President Jacques Rogge, Olympics Opening Ceremony, Beijing

    Mr. President of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Liu Qi, Members of the Organizing Committee, dear Chinese friends, dear athletes:
    For a long time, China has dreamed of opening its doors and inviting the world's athletes to Beijing for the Olympic Games. Tonight that dream comes true. Congratulations, Beijing.
    You have chosen as the theme of these Games "One World, One Dream". That is what we are tonight.
    As one world, we grieved with you over the tragic earthquake in Sichuan Province. We were moved by the great courage and solidarity of the Chinese people. As one dream, may these Olympic Games bring you joy, hope and pride.
    Athletes, the Games were created for you by our founder, Pierre de Coubertin. These Games belong to you. Let them be the athletes' Games.
    Remember that you are role models for the youths of the world. Reject doping and cheating. Make us proud of your achievements and your conduct.
    As we bring the Olympic dream to life, our warm thanks go to the Beijing Organizing Committee for its tireless work. Our special thanks also go to the thousands of gracious volunteers, without whom none of this would be possible.
    Beijing, you are a host to the present and a gateway to the future. Thank you.