Datuk Sieh Kok Chi below gives his personal views on the selection of Nanjing (China) as the host of the 2nd Youth Olympic Games in 2014:
"At the 122nd International Olympic Council Session on February 10th at the Westin Hotel in Vancouver, the IOC members selected Nanjing (China) over Poznan (Poland) to be the host of the 2nd Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2014, by 47 votes against 42 votes.
The 1st YOG will be held in Singapore from 14th to 26th August this year.
After the decision on the Host City for the 125th IOC Session in 2013 which was done in the afternoon after the selecting of Nanjing, many IOC members consoled YAM Tunku Tan Sri Imran ibni Almarhum Tuanku Ja’afar, by saying that Kuala Lumpur’s bid and presentation was outstanding, but unfortunately because Nanjing won the bid to host the 2nd YOG in 2014, it was difficult for the IOC to award both important IOC events to Asia.
(Note:Buenos Aires won the right to host the 125th IOC Session in 2013 over Kuala Lumpur, by 58 votes to 31 votes.)
The logic of the above decision was reasonable and acceptable. What was difficult to accept was why the 2nd YOG was awarded to Nanjing in the first place. The IOC principle of distributing and sharing prestigious events to every country is very fair and noble. In addition, one of the basic concepts of the Youth Olympic Games was to allow smaller countries, which have never hosted and would probably have zero chance of hosting the Olympic Games, the opportunity to host YOG.
The award of the 1st Youth Olympic Games to Singapore, gave hopes to smaller countries that they too would have the opportunities to host YOG, by not having to compete against large and powerful sports nations, such as the USA, China, Germany, Great Britain, etc.
The selection of Nanjing has killed the dreams of the smaller developing countries of ever hosting any Olympic Games, including the Youth Olympic Games. China has just successfully hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and will be hosting the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and the Universiade in Shenshen in 2011.
The 2nd YOG in 2014 in Nanjing, would mean 4 of the world’s biggest and most prestigious Games would be held in China within a period of 7 years (2008 to 2014). China being a very large and strong country, has at least 10 cities, if not more, which can host any of the Games in the world, from the smallest to the largest at any time.
Would this be the trend in the future?"
2 comments:
Being a superpower draws the bucks...and being a gracious host (Beijing Olympics) makes it easier.
Malaysia might never see the light of the Youths Olympics on our shores... unless u can bribe the IOC officials aka Salt Lake City but then again are we not seriously considering stamping out corruption in the 1st place. Well...back to the drawingboard for OCM board.
What is so difficult to accept when it was voted 47 to 42 for the YOG to go to China? Level Field at your Blog we discussed so many things on the cutting of allocations to school sports. We are talking about wastage with no blue plans to make Malaysia a great sporting nation.
Zainal Hashim has expressed joy that we lost the bid to host the 125 IOC session in KL. It is a waste of time and money and the money could have been put to better use for school sports.
What I want to know from OCM is how much was spent on the presentation at Vancouver to put up such an outstanding show?
Donny Sieh claims that Malysia's presentation was outstanding, by guaging from the amount spend, it would give us an idea as to how out standing it can be.
I understand that when Singapore bid for the 1st YOG they got professionals to do the presentation and it costs a few Millions for the presentation.
Now if you get clips from Tourism Board and use that "Malaysia Truly Asia" clips, our presentaion would not costs millions.
You think Donny Sieh will reveal how much was spent on this presentation and the Business Class tickets to Vancouver?
My guess is this will be another thumbs up from Donny and "Semua nya Okay!" from OCM.
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