On the Scene - Call for Action from Sport for All Beijing

A "Balanced Diet" Needed for Social Networking Says Conference Chief

The 14th IOC Conference on Sport for All ends with a declaration to press governments as well as sports organizations to support sport for all programs in their countries.

The three-day conference ended Sep 23 in Beijing, attracting 650 delegates.

"We issue a call to action to all organizations, sports, and otherwise, governments and community entities to focus efforts on advancing the Sport for All Movement," said conference chair Sam Ramsamy as he closed the meeting.

A formal written declaration was released hours after the conference closed. To see the full declaration click here.

Among the points raised by Ramsamy in his closing address was a call for "a balanced diet between social media and physical activity".

Ramsamy leads a meeting of the two-dozen member IOC Sports for All Commission Saturday in Beijing that will use this conference as a springboard to plan the next in 2013.

Representatives of the 2013 host city, Miraflores in Peru, took the stage at the end of the conference to invite delegates to the seaside city.

Peru NOC President Jose Quinones promised an enjoyable visit to Miraflores, located in the center of the Lima metropolitan area.

IOC President Jacques Rogge attended most of the conference and was accompanied by more than a dozen IOC colleagues, including two potential candidates to succeed him, Thomas Bach of Germany and Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico.

Rogge Says Government Support Needed for Sport for All

IOC president Jacques Rogge tells Around the Rings it’s up to theOlympic Movement to lobby local governments concerning the necessity of sport to a healthy lifestyle.

"Everyone now agrees that there is a need," he told reporters at a news conference early Friday in response to a question posed by ATR.

"So it’s up to us to convince the governments to do as much as possible."

Once during Wednesday’s opening ceremony, again Thursday during an exclusive interview with ATR and again Friday morning, Rogge reiterated his appreciation for the continued commitment of both the Beijing municipal government as well as the Chinese national government.

Half of the host city’s population is already engaged in regular physical activity according to deputy mayor Liu Jingmin, also executive vice chairman of the Olympic legacy organization BODA.

His former BOCOG colleague Jiang Xiaouyu was quick to add that the volume of qualified coaches, volunteers and school resources here dedicated to Sport for All programs is "swelling" by the day.

But the IOC president suggested China is perhaps the exception and not the rule, insisting the Olympic Movement must also take up the mantle as Sport for All moves from a more scientific past to a fully operational future.

"It’s not just asking the governments," he told ATR. "We also have to do whatever is needed."

Rogge then cited a speech he delivered Monday in New York before the United Nations General Assembly on the importance of sport in combating childhood obesity as an example of exactly that.

Also during the press briefing, he fielded questions from Chinese media concerning revenue-sharing discussions between the IOC and USOC ("they’re ongoing"), the recent London riots with regard to the 2012 Games ("security is the number one priority") and the legacy of the Beijing Olympics ("I landed with a blue sky and I will take off also with a blue sky").

Sharing the stage alongside Rogge, Liu and Jiang was IOC Sport for All chair Sam Ramsamy, who told ATR analysis of the past three days – and especially of the conference declaration – would dominate discussion during Saturday’s meeting of his commission.

Written and reported in Beijing by Ed Hula and Matthew Grayson

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