BOCOG Impresses in Final Analysis of Beijing Olympics

Denis Oswald, IOC member from Switzerland, at Beijing's rowing venue(ATR) The Beijing Olympics debrief in London comes to a close Thursday with participants hailing the openness of BOCOG officials in sharing the lessons from the Games.

Denis Oswald, IOC member from Switzerland, described the debrief as “much more productive” than the IOC’s Transfer of Knowledge session from the Athens Olympics four years ago.

Workshops covering the different functional areas of the Olympics have involved more than 400 officials from the IOC, BOCOG, London 2012, VANOC and Sochi 2014, plus representatives from the 2016 candidate cities and other Olympic stakeholders.

Spectators, venue development and management, security, ceremonies, and Olympic villages were among aspects of the Beijing Games scrutinized Wednesday.

Gunilla Lindberg, secretary general of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), took part in sessions on ‘NOCs and athletes’ and ‘Olympic villages’ this week and said constructive discussions were held about the issues to be addressed for London 2012.

“BOCOG has been very open in sharing information,” she told Around the Rings.

ANOC’s list of 20 areas for improvement was debated in the NOCs session. They included the promotion of closer cooperation between international federations and NOCs in Games preparations and the recommendation that only athletes from Olympic sports should be allowed to stay in the Olympic village. Wireless internet for London’s Olympic village was also proposed.

“The message for London is to put the athletes first, and the Olympic village is the heart of the Games for them,” said Lindberg, IOC member from Sweden.

Wang Wei, BOCOG’s executive vice president and the face of the Beijing Olympics to the media, insisted he and his colleagues had been happy to share information on the successes of the Games and reflect on the areas of organization and operations where they could have done better.

“We owe the [Olympic] movement a lot so we are giving back,” he told Empty media seats during the basketball competition at Beijing's Wukesong venue was among FIBA's concerns.ATR.

Wang indicated that BOCOG was in the process of winding down its operations. The staffing side would be dissolved by the end of the year with finance and logistics completed by the spring.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) is one of the IFs that has reaped the benefits of the Beijing debrief.

“The Beijing presentations have been generally quite open about some of the difficulties; they produced a lot of detailed information,” said FIBA president Bob Elphinston, adding that it was the best of the three Olympics debriefs in which he has now participated.

He applauded BOCOG’s successes and used the workshops to make some recommendations for London Olympic organizers. Concerns were raised about the large number of accredited seats for broadcasters and press at the Wukesong basketball venue. Many media seats remained empty for most of the Games, yet on a number of occasions BOCOG could not satisfy the public demand for ticketing at the venue, he explained.

“It’s an opportunity for London to work out with the IOC how to overcome that problem,” Elphinston said. One solution, he added, was to have a system of expanding and contracting media seating at London’s Olympic basketball venue to meet the needs of broadcasters and press, and ensure a full arena.

The Beijing debrief continues Thursday with sessions on brand presentation, accreditation, environment and sustainability. A press conference takes place at 13.00 at the Radisson Portman Hotel in London. Panelists will include BOCOG’s Wang Wei, Hein Verbruggen, chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Beijing, Gilbert Felli, the IOC's Olympic Games executive director, and LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe.

Wrapping up the debrief is a plenary session from 14.00 to 16.00, which is expected to summarise the week’s activities and offer some recommendations for future Games.

With reporting from Mark Bisson.

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