Interview with IOC President Jacques Rogge
IOC President Jacques Rogge answers the questions of LEN Magazine.
LEN Magazine: We cannot skip the question of the finals in Beijing. Some understand the IOC?s decision to hold the finals in the morning as NBC is one of the most important partners of the Olympic Movement, and something should be done to stop the fall in ratings back in the US. But some say it is against the athletes and the spirit of competition to force such a drastic switch in an athlete?s biological clock, and swimming is being sacrificed for the good of the Games.
Jacques Rogge: A great deal of time and effort was devoted to talking to the stakeholders affected by the competition scheduling for Beijing 2008 before this decision was made. There is no ?one-size fits all? solution, but the IOC believes that, through the hard work of all those involved, the best balance has been achieved for the Olympic Movement.
Most importantly, the health of the athletes will not be affected. The needs of the athletes were thoroughly discussed by the IOC Athletes? Commission, which confirmed that athletes are able and focused enough to compete morning or evening. Actually, the timing gives the athletes more recovery time between qualifications and finals than was the case in Athens. We received positive feedback from the finals at the Pan-American Games in July which also took place in the morning - everybody seemed to be very satisfied with the outcome.
(Read the full interview with reflections to doping, Michael Phelps? role and the president?s own swimming experience in the LEN Magazine. For subsription: click here.)
