Rogge re-elected as IOC president

Rogge re-elected as IOC president

Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC),
presents the final document and completes the IOC Congress at a news conference
at Bella Center in Copenhagen October 5, 2009. Rogge was re-elected as the IOC
president here on Friday at the 121st IOC Session.



COPENHAGEN, Oct. 9 -- Jacques Rogge was re-elected as the IOC president here on
Friday at the 121st IOC Session.



Rogge, 67, met no challenge at all as he was the only candidate who joined the
campaign. Then he claimed his final four-year term with an 88-1 vote for his
re-election.



The Belgian has been taking office for eight years since 2001 and told his
colleagues on Friday that "we have much more to do".



"We will narrow the gap in sport between the developed and the developing
worlds; and between men and women. We will redouble our efforts to place sport
at the service of mankind -- to inspire young and old alike; to give athletes
the opportunity to lead by example; and promote the Olympic values of fair play,
respect, solidarity and the pursuit of excellence."



When Rogge formally announced his bid for re-election last October, he said he
wanted to fight as hard as possible against doping, considering brings over
5,500 tests at the 2012 London Olympics. "It is for me priority No. 1 in the
world of sports."



Rogge reported on Wednesday that the number of out-of competition tests and
those at the Games has doubled over the last eight years. "We were the first
organization to keep samples for eight years."



During the Beijing Olympic Games, a total of 4,770 tests took place including
3,801 urine and 969 blood tests. Then, the IOC reanalyzed a total of 948 samples
from Beijing after new lab tests for CERA and insulin became available following
the Olympics.



The IOC also witnessed solid and increasing financial resources under the charge
of Rogge.



The TOP programme, a global sponsorship programme managed by the IOC, generated
a total of 663 million US dollars in 2001-2004 and the figure increased to 866
million in the following four-year term. So far, the TOP programme is worth 883
million US dollars and negotiations are still under way to finalise it. It has
also secured 563 million US dollars from five sponsors for the 2013-2016 term.



Besides, the IOC's television rights revenue totaled 2.2 billion US dollars for
the period 2002-2004 and 2.6 billion for the period 2006-2008. The figure is a
stunning 3.8 billion US dollars for the period 2012-2012.



The financial sound IOC managed to provide greater financial support to the
Olympic sports. A total of 767 million US dollars were given to the Winter and
Summer Sports International Federations over the past eight years. The 2006
Turin Winter Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics respectively enjoyed a 421 US
dollars financial assistance from the IOC.

(Xinhua)