In the Words of International Olympic Committee Officials
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"We believe the Games are going to move ahead the agenda of the social and human rights as far as possible; the Games are going to be a force for good."
Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee President, quoted by Reuters on August 6, 2007
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"We believe that the Olympic Games will have definitely a positive, lasting effect on the Chinese society."
Jacques Rogge, quoted by the Associated Press on April 25, 2007
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“We should all remember that the Games are not judged solely by the technical proficiency of the project, but also through the perception that the world has of the Games.”
Jacques Rogge, addressing an IOC coordination commission meeting on October 24, 2006 and quoted in China Daily, October 25, 2006
"I said to the Chinese political leaders, the IOC urges you to improve as much as possible human rights, as soon as possible... I have said we will be in close contact with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and the United Nations, and they will report to us and tell us what they feel... The IOC is a responsible organization, be it in the field of human rights, be it in the field of just logistics and delivering what is necessary to have good Games, be it in the field of human rights or any other major issue that would make the Games difficult or impossible for young athletes to participate in, then we will act."
Jacques Rogge, in an interview with BBC News 24’s Hardtalk on April 23, 2002
"We feel that bringing the Games here — in general without going into detail on any political issue — will be beneficial for the social and economic development of this country," he said. "Would any political situation be better here were we not coming with the Games to China? Certainly that would not be the case."
Hein Verbruggen, head of the IOC coordination commission for the Beijing Games,quoted in The International Herald Tribune, April 25, 2007
“It is not within our mandate to act as an agent for concerned groups. Journalists are imprisoned all over the world, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad reasons.”
Gilbert Felli, IOC Olympic Games Executive Director, speaking to a delegation of the Committee to Protect Journalists on November 15, 2006
“In this country there are laws and they have to be respected. … As long as the media behaves in the normal way, then I’m sure there will be no problems. … If it’s in the law, then it is in the law.”
Hein Verbruggen, at a May 18, 2006, press conference in Beijing, quoted by The Guardian’s website
"We are not in a position that we can give instructions to governments as to how they ought to behave."
Hein Verbruggen, quoted in The Washington Post, April 30, 2007
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“Had the I.O.C., and those vested with the decision to award the host city contract, known seven years ago that there would be severe restrictions on people being able to enter China simply to watch the Olympics, or that live broadcasting from Tiananmen Square would essentially be banned, or that reporters would be corralled at the whim of local security, then I seriously doubt whether Beijing would have been awarded the Olympics.”
Unnamed IOC official, quoted in The New York Times, July 21, 2008
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“Had the I.O.C., and those vested with the decision to award the host city contract, known seven years ago that there would be severe restrictions on people being able to enter China simply to watch the Olympics, or that live broadcasting from Tiananmen Square would essentially be banned, or that reporters would be corralled at the whim of local security, then I seriously doubt whether Beijing would have been awarded the Olympics.”
Unnamed IOC official, quoted in The New York Times, July 21, 2008
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“The Beijing Games [have been] really outstanding. The athletes are absolutely happy with what they called the best ever Olympic Village. Even the media, who criticized us once in a while, said to me, 'president, we will continue to criticize you, but we have to say we never had [such] nice facilities.'"
IOC President Jacques Rogge, quoted by the Chinese news agency Xinhua during a visit to Hong Kong on August 18, 2008
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“The Beijing Games [have been] really outstanding. The athletes are absolutely happy with what they called the best ever Olympic Village. Even the media, who criticized us once in a while, said to me, 'president, we will continue to criticize you, but we have to say we never had [such] nice facilities.'"
IOC President Jacques Rogge, quoted by the Chinese news agency Xinhua during a visit to Hong Kong on August 18, 2008
