Communications Director Giselle Davies is on the firing line for the IOC at news briefings. (ATR) Boisterous Beijing Press Briefings Take a Break
The often contentious press conferences held by BOCOG and the IOC will take a break from the regular schedule this weekend. No briefing will be held Saturday. The next one is scheduled for Sunday morning.
A dearth of news may be part of the reason. But avoiding the daily barrage of queries about protests, Tibet and other issues said to be “outside the remit” of BOCOG and the IOC may be another reason. Questions about political points have become a fixture at the daily briefings.
Just as the Olympics in China are like none other, these new briefings are in a league of their own.
The Games spokesmen start digging their own hole with the media by keeping them waiting. While briefings are scheduled for 11 a.m., the actual start time has been in flux since Day One of the Games when the first began at least 15 minutes late. Now scheduled officially for 11:15, the extra 15 minutes still doesn’t produce on-time starts.
In Friday’s briefing Wang Wei, BOCOG vice president, dealt with questions about the latest protests by Tibet activists, using Chinese for his answers to keep them precise. While such a topic is one of those outside the remit of BOCOG and the IOC, he glibly explained Chinese policy on Tibet.
But he was still unable to summon information from relevant authorities on the number of applications Beijing authorities have approved for Games protests, pointing out for the third day in a row that the question involves an area outside BOCOG’s authority. This non-answer is typical fodder of the briefings, where the Olympic spokesmen often say they don’t know the answers to the more controversial questions – or even benign ones.
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies, after mentioning that “no Games are perfect,” was pressed by a reporter to explain what BOCOG had done wrong so far, the inference drawn by the journalist that the IOC had some criticisms, which Davies said the IOC did not.
Reporters holding on to the microphone to ask follow-up questions drew rebukes from BOCOG press chief Sun Weide, who had to raise his voice at one time to press the point, rejecting the entreaty of the journalist that follow-ups were a right of press conferences. Davies refused to answer one question until the mic had been handed over to the microphone usher.
In all, nearly three dozen questions, most of little import to the Games, were posed in the Friday briefing which ran the course of an hour. Of course, it started 30 minutes late.
Two Athletes Kicked Out for Doping
The IOC expels two more drug cheats from the Beijing Olympics, bringing the number of athletes kicked out of the Games to three.
North Korean pistol shooter Kim Jong-Su tested positive for propanolol after winning silver in the 50-meter pistol and bronze in the 10-meter air pistol. The banned betablocker can be used to prevent trembling, important in sports such as shooting.
In the 50-meter air pistol, the silver goes to China’s Tan Zongliang and bronze to Vladimir Isakov from Russia. U.S. shooter Jason Turner moves up to bronze in the 10-meter air pistol.
Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do, who finished last in the women's floor exercise, tested positive for the diuretic furosemide.
IOC medical commission chair Arne Ljungqvist said he believed Kim was guilty of “a deliberate intake” of a banned substance because of propanolol's specific benefit for shooters. He suggested the Vietnamese athlete had inadvertently used furosemide, a common drug.
The latest positive doping cases come after Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno was expelled from the Games earlier this week after testing positive for EPO.
The IOC said Friday that 2,203 drug tests have been carried out in its largest ever crackdown on doping at an Olympics. This includes 1,720 urine and 483 blood tests and covers the period July 27 to Aug. 13. In pre-competition controls, 1,250 tests were performed.
The IOC is carrying out 4,500 drug tests in Beijing; testing takes place at 41 doping control stations, 34 in Beijing and seven in the co-host cities.
As news of the latest drug cheat was announced, U.S. swimming sensation Michael Phelps was on the way to winning his sixth gold medal in Beijing. After winning the men's 200 m individual medley, he promised to prove to any doubters that he is clean of drugs.
“Anyone is able to say whatever they want. I know that I am clean,” Phelps told reporters at a news conference, noting his role in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s ‘Project Believe’ initiative, in which participants provide additional blood and urine samples beyond WADA’s testing regime. Team New Zealand relax in the Olympic Village. (Getty Images)
Glowing Reviews of Olympic Village
Beijing’s Olympic Village has received wide acclaim from its residents and visitors since it opened July 27. Deng Yaping, deputy director of the Olympic Village department, said Friday that she had received 49 letters of praise from different countries as of Aug 14.
Some 14,268 athletes and officials from 204 national Olympic committees have been received in 9,993 guest rooms in the 42 apartment buildings, he said.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Australian PM Kevin Rudd are among the 62 governmental leaders, royal representatives and other international dignitaries to have visited.
Deng said the main dining hall has served a total of 273,627 athletes and officials; it served the most guests on one day in the history of the Olympics on Aug. 8, day of the opening ceremony, when 18,634 guests dined in the hall from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. It broke the record of serving 10,515 guests during the same period at the 2004 Games.
Deng said a meeting with all the chef de missions is held every other day to resolve any issues of concern. While admitting “we have been dealing with a number of problems every day,” she did not elaborate on the nature of the problems. Mongolian judo gold medalist Tuvshinbayar Naidan (in white) has made his country proud. (Getty Images)
“So far we haven’t received one single letter of complaint,” she told reporters.
Mongolia Wins First Gold
Tuvshinbayar Naidan has won Mongolia’s first gold medal in the Olympics. His win in the men’s 100 kg judo event Thursday sparked scenes of joyous celebrations in the streets of capital Ulan Bator.
Thousands of Mongolians filled the central square, where in June demonstrators protested election results and five were killed during clashes with police. Naidan’s victory was toasted with vodka by flag-waving Mongolians, while cars sounded their horns to salute his achievement.
He beat Kazakhstan’s Askhat Zhitkeyev to become Olympic champion, after earlier ousting the favorite, Japan’s Keiji Suzuki. Zhitkeyev’s silver is Kazakhstan’s first Olympic medal in judo. A common scene on the Common Domain. (ATR)
Where’s Jacques?
IOC President Jacques Rogge attended archery, gymnastics and the first night of athletics on Day 7 of the Beijing Olympics.
Beijing by the Numbers
The Olympic Green Common Domain received 98,889 visitors Aug. 14, according to BOCOG. 501,188 spectators attended competition venues on Day Six of the Games.
Written by ATR Staff in Beijing For general comments or questions, click here
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