On the Scene in Beijing -- Daily Briefings End, Contentious as Ever

BOCOG Accuses Media of Bias

The contentious mood of the press briefings of BOCOG and the IOC failed to lift for even the last session held Friday. BOCOG’s spokesman accused the media of bias against China, while the IOC communications chief was forced to defend her smile.

"There are so many criticisms in this room," Wang Wei, BOCOG executive vice president and secretary general said during a session in which the laundry list of critical questions from the past two weeks was presented again.

There were questions about internet censorship, media access to Tibet, two elderly women sentenced to a year of labor and lack of activity in protest zones.

There was also a new political topic, reports of Chinese police opening fire in Tibet.

"It just reflects how biased some of the media are about China, how little some of the media understand China," Wang criticized.

Although he said Tibet is not a BOCOG subject, he took a few minutes to lecture reporters on his personal experience with Tibet and how China has helped raise the standard of living there.

"Tell the true story, please," he said.

Davies, the IOC director of communications, was asked if the political and human rights issues swirling around the Games had harmed the Olympic Movement and made the IOC second-guess its choice to bring the Olympics to China.

"Whether the Olympic Movement will leave Beijing thinking if it made the right decision coming here, the answer is unquestionably yes," she said. "We feel this country has developed enormously through sport."

Davies added that reports from the public back the IOC's belief that the Games have been hugely successful.

"History will look back in time and look at this as an important moment on the landscape."

Smiling Faces

A German reporter remarked that Davies is usually smiling in these press conferences. He said she may have "private reasons," but asked, "Why do you look so fed up with the job you're doing right now? Your smile is not sincere."

Davies shot back that if it's a private matter, maybe they should take it up privately.

"I'm a smiling person and my smile is real," she retorted, a smile on her face she spoke.

Age of Gymnast Scrutinized

Davies said a Times of London report that the IOC is investigating the age of gold medal-winning Chinese gymnasts He Kexin was "probably misleading."

"You shouldn't regard this as some kind of formal investigation," she stated, "but yes, we have asked the gymnastics federation to look into what have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies on this case."

She explained the IOC believed it had addressed the issue earlier in the games, and passports were produced to justify claims that the athletes would be at least 16 this year, making them eligible to compete.

"The IOC simply wants to do due diligence to 100 percent clarify the situation and put this to rest," Davies said.

Computer experts say they have found evidence, since removed from a Web site, that He is 14 years old, too young to compete. She was part of the gold-medal winning team event and also won the uneven bars, edging U.S. gymnast Nastia Liukin.

Christophe Dubi, the IOC sports director, said this is an ongoing process. He added that FIG has again asked the Chinese gymnastics federation to produce evidence of He's eligibility.

"But so far everything that has been received shows that we have no problem with eligibility for these competitors."

The ages of two other Chinese gymnasts have also been questioned.

Wang said the Chinese Olympic Committee had already provided the necessary information and evidence.

"These documents have already been clarified," he contended. "Things have been cleared up."

Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, said before the Games that the U.S. team was ready to take on rivals of any age.

With two gold medals at stake Friday, he said in a statement, "USA Gymnastics has always believed this issue needed to be addressed by the FIG and IOC. An investigation would help bring closure to the issue and remove any cloud of speculation from this competition."

Closing Ceremony Top Secret

Wang said he couldn't disclose any information about Sunday night's closing ceremony.

"As you know, the closing ceremony will be shorter than the opening, and if I say something, I think I'll say it all," he said, "so I don't think I can tell you anything."

He was later asked if spectators will be able to "believe what we see" at closing ceremonies because of "faking at the opening ceremony." Those included a pretty little girl lip-synching to the singing of a girl with crooked teeth and fabricating the giant fireworks footprints.

"That's a strange question to me that I heard for the first time - ‘faking the previous ceremonies,’ " Wang said. "I can assure you that the closing ceremony will be very nice looking and it'll be wonderful."

He insisted he doesn't believe anyone would spend the time or money to fake it. "It's not worth it," he said.

Too Much Celebration?

Four-time Olympic silver medalist Frank Fredericks of Namibia said he's never won an Olympic gold medal or run 9.69 seconds, so he doesn't know how he would have reacted had he been in Usain Bolt's shoes after the 100 meters. IOC President Jacques Rogge has criticized Bolt's antics.

"This is a unique moment, a moment an athlete has trained for so long and he's making history," said Fredericks, who is the new chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. "It's not a thing you have planned or rehearsed. There's no time to do that."

He added that Bolt is quiet and doesn't talk much. "Maybe that is a way of expressing himself," Fredericks said. "We can't tell a guy who runs 9.69 how to react. If he thinks about how he is going to react, he might have run 9.90 and been second."

Handball Protest Rejected, Appealed

The International Handball Federation has rejected the protest Korea filed after its 29-28 loss to Norway in the women's semifinal. Korea asked that Gro Hammerseng's last-second goal be annulled and the match continued into overtime. Korean coach Lim Youngchul said several Korean TV stations had told him that the ball crossed the goal line one or two seconds after the buzzer.

The IHF refused the protest, it said, "because the situation in the last second was a factual decision."

Korea has appealed the Disciplinary Commission decision to the IHF Jury, the second IHF appeal authority.

Where's Jacques?

IOC President Jacques Rogge saw the men's beach volleyball gold medal match at Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground. He also stopped in at modern pentathlon and boxing and met with the newly-elected members of the IOC Athletes’ Commission.

Beijing by the Numbers

For the upcoming Paralympics, 198,680 people have been approved for accreditation. Of that number, 89,898 accreditation cards have been produced, 37,623 have already had their accreditation cards validated. A total of 408,271 tickets have been sold so far for the Paralympics, including 30,418 sold Thursday.

Written by ATR Staff in BeijingFor general comments or questions, click here