On the Scene -- Sport for All Wake-Up Call, Beijing Spectacle

(ATR) The World Conference on Sport for All opens with a wake-up call from international federations, National Olympic Committees and IOC president Jacques Rogge.

"At this 14th edition, we look at the practical implementation of Sport for All programs at large," Rogge told the 600+ delegates at Wednesday night’s opening ceremony in Beijing.

"Last year in Finland, we adopted the Jyvaskyla Declaration," he added in reference to the 13th installment, "urging the sports movement to take a leadership role in implementing direct action to address declining levels of physical activity in communities."

Scattered about the main hall of the China National Convention Center – former Main Press Centre, International Broadcasting Centre as well as venue for Olympic fencing and pistol shooting just three years ago – were IOC members, IF leaders, NOC officials and Chinese dignitaries.

Also among the ceremony’s speakers were IOC Sport for All chair Sam Ramsamy, Chinese Olympic Committee president Liu Peng and former BOCOG boss Liu Qi, now a bigwig within the Communist Party as well as chief organizer of this week’s conference.

One after another, they addressed the impact of the 2008 Games upon China’s sport development as well as the country’s ongoing commitment to the Olympic ideal up for discussion throughout the three-day gathering.

The IOC president joined the chorus of praise for Beijing while also paying lip service to Nanjing, future host of the second-ever Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2014.

"We cannot forget that China is a country in which Sport for All is closely linked to the daily lifestyle of its people," Rogge said, referencing the ubiquitous tai chi as a perfect manifestation of physical activity for the masses, no matter age or gender or talent.

"Choosing Beijing as the location of the 14th World Conference could not be more fitting," he added.

A showcase of cultural performances – hip-hip, wheelchair dancing and tai chi among them – brought to a close the evening’s program, which also included the awarding of the first-ever IOC Sport for All Grants to a trio of NGOs in China, Ethiopia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Afternoon "Wake-Up Call"

Hours earlier, the conference’s first plenary session featured an IOC member, IF leader and NOC official each attesting to the same troubling trend – an increasing disconnect between youth and sport.

Childhood obesity, a topic addressed Monday by Rogge in front of the UN General Assembly in New York, received top billing again Wednesday with Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. this time doing the honors.

The IOC member from Spain first revisited last year’s gathering in Jyvaskyla and reminded his Sport for All colleagues of their past declaration – that the Olympic Movement combat declining and inadequate exercise levels, particularly among children.

Young people should be practicing at least an hour of moderate-to-rigorous physical activity per day, according to Samaranch, with much of that coming compulsorily within the context of primary and secondary schooling.

Parents must also set strong examples by practicing what they should be preaching, he said.

"It’s leading by doing," he added, "not by saying."

International Ski Federation secretary general Sarah Lewis followed by presenting efforts to proactively address what she cited as a decline in recreational snow sports over recent years.

The multi-year, international "Bring Children to the Snow" campaign kicks off January 22, also the day the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games come to a close in Innsbruck.

Already 46 FIS stakeholders in 17 countries – and counting – are committed to organizing events on so-called World Snow Day to promote skiing as the go-to exercise for youngsters.

"Rome wasn’t built in a day," Lewis joked before recruiting delegates from Japan and Serbia to her cause in a subsequent Q&A.

Last up in the afternoon was Marije Dippel, director of international affairs for the Dutch NOC, in a presentation plainly but appropriately titled "Follow-Up Starts on Site".

Two out of every three of her country’s inhabitants are active, she said, but that means one is not.

Dippel briefly cited the efforts of her NOC to reach those elusive outliers – alliances among schools, community organizations and fitness centers among them – before quickly returning to a more global perspective.

"Let us not lose sight of what this Sport for All conference is primarily about," she said.

"It’s a means to an end, the end being every individual having the possibility of practicing sport."

She then closed with a call to action, inviting her colleagues to go ahead and draft their own personal Sport for All resolutions on purpose-made postcards picturing the nearby Bird’s Nest stadium.

Before breaking for coffee and case studies, attendees were given exactly two minutes to fill in their home addresses and complete the sentence "Following the 14th World Conference on Sport for All I resolve to…"

According to Dippel, the IOC will pay to mail these postcards to each and every delegate in the coming weeks as a sort of Sport for All "wake-up call" as well as a reminder of promises past.

Written in Beijing by Matthew Grayson.