The 117th IOC Session in Singapore - A Summary
The adventure began on November 2002 in Mexico City and ended with a bang at Singapore’s Raffles City Convention Centre.
Three years ago, Mr Ng Ser Miang, the only International Olympic Committee member from Singapore, led a small delegation to Mexico on a seemingly impossible mission: Convince the IOC to hold their 117th Congress in the Republic.
It was a tough act, for arch-rival Guatemala was equally keen to host the Congress. Long-time IOC member Willi Kaltschmitt Lujan told his IOC colleagues in an impassioned speech, “We would like to organize the Olympic Games but our tiny dimension makes that impossible. But it is possible to organize an IOC Session.”
Then, to show the seriousness of Guatemala’s bid, he added, “Please believe me. If you ask me at this moment to make a parachute jump, or to eat the most hot chilli in Mexico, I will do it to have the pleasure and the honour to have you in Guatemala in 2005.”
Mr Ng was not so dramatic in his speech, but said enough at the meeting, and done enough homework outside it earlier, to win the confidence of his colleagues. The IOC members voted 59-51 to come to Singapore.
The 117th IOC Session started on July 6. On July 9, IOC president Jacques Rogge, in his closing media conference gave Singapore a big pat on the back.
Praising Singapore for playing a major role in the successful running of the Session, the Belgian added, “All my colleagues were ecstatic about the quality of the organization, the quality of the hospitality.”
It was the second public commendation Mr Rogge had paid the organizers.
At a dinner for IOC delegates organised by the Singapore National Olympic Council and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, he had this to say of the hosts:
“You have, what we say in skating, a perfect six.”
And, his fellow IOC members seemed to be endorsing his views when they voted Mr Ng into the IOC’s executive committee, the first South-east Asian to be so honoured.
The local media was unstinting in its praises too. Over 1,100 (local & international) media personnel representing nearly 330 media organisations from over 35 countries around the world were covering the event from the Raffles City Convention Centre during the Session. The significant presence of international wires and broadcasters in Singapore contributed tremendously to the extensive 'live' coverage, which helped put Singapore on the World map.
Business Times headlined its review of the Congress “A Job Well Done”. The daily interviewed chief executive officers of local companies for their views.
Ms Theresa Chew, CEO and co-founder of Expressions International, said, “The successful hosting of the IOC Session demonstrated that Singapore is confident and capable enough to organize global events.
“Playing to our biggest strengths of tight security, good infrastructure and global connectivity, Singapore should capitalize on this successful hosting of the Session and consider organising other international events.”
Mr Richard Eu, CEO of Eu Yan Sang, added: “It is a great credit to Ng Ser Miang that he managed to get us this event in the first place. It is unlikely that will have a chance to host an IOC event of such importance for a long time.”
Mr Daniel Truchi, CEO of SG Private Banking (Asia Pacific), expressed this view, “The IOC event held in Singapore clearly highlighted only one winner and a few losers. The one winner was undoubtedly Singapore.”
The Straits Times, Singapore’s national daily, not only called it an “enormously successful IOC Session”, but also showed its approval in a most flattering way.
It devoted the first six pages of its July 7 edition, normally reserved for the main local and international news, to reports of London winning the bid to host the 2012 Games.
The international newspapers and magazines also praised the Republic’s organizational abilities.
For example, in a report entitled “Singapore A Secret Winner In Olympic Bidding War”, Sid Duguid, writing in Media, said,
“As Paris gave a collective Gallic shrug and London secured the greatest prize in sport, the award goes to Singapore for hosting the 117th IOC Session.
“I have only respect and admiration…for those well-groomed citizens delivered a slick, stylish and professional event that the world must applaud.
The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong daily, asked, “Now why didn’t Hong Kong, Asia’s World City, think of hosting this IOC Session?”
Referring to the many sports stars who had flown to Singapore, the article continued, “The stars will just raise Singapore’s stature even higher. It is a shame that they will be shopping down Orchard Road and not Nathan Road.
“While Hong Kong slept, Singapore pulled off the publicity coup of the decade.”
Sid Duguid, who is the managing director of Field Asia, also wrote, “Singapore can not only host events on a global scale but it deserves to benefit from them.”
Truth is, when Singapore won the bid to host the 117th IOC Session way back in 2002, no one had expected the meeting to be so explosive that it drew about 1,500 print and broadcast journalists from all over the globe.
Two items on the IOC agenda made this one of the most-watched IOC Sessions, with an estimated one billion people catching the live telecast results of the 2012 Games host-bidding election.
Five world cities, each of whom, said Mr Rogge would have been an efficient host, wanted the 2012 Summer Olympics. They were London, Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow.
As Canadian television said, “A star-studded event has placed Singapore in the centre of the sporting universe.”
The five bid teams came to Singapore with marquee names from sports and politics. London, for example, had soccer star David Beckham and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
New York brought along its Senator Hillary Clinton while Prime Minister Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov came to throw his support behind Moscow.
Spain added a touch of royalty with Queen Sofia and Real Madrid soccer star Raul Gonzalez while French President Jacques Chirac paid a whirlwind visit.
Although the race to host 2012 was the main course, the dessert was just as appetizing. The IOC conducted a full review of all Summer Sports and eventually knocked out baseball and softball for London 2012.
The IOC members have long packed for home but Singapore is still reaping the benefits of their presence here.
The Singapore Tourism Board estimated that the meeting added about $40 million to the local economy.
STB also reported that the Republic a record 876,561 visitors in July. About 5,000 of them came for the IOC Session.
There are also many intangible benefits the Republic derived from hosting the meeting.
For example, when the results of the voting were beamed live to one billion viewers, Singapore was allowed to include a two-minute segment on the tourist spots of the island. That, tourism experts estimated was worth millions.
For the Singapore sports fraternity, the presence of so many top officials from the international sports federations was indeed a blessing.
They not only fostered closer personal ties but also had the opportunity of showcasing Singapore’s ability to host sports events and seminars.
As Singapore Sports Council chief executive officer Oon Jin Teik said, “The event acts as a catalyst for us and provide momentum for our national sports associations to speak to their international federations.’’
And added Mr Ng Ser Miang, “It makes me proud that people know just what Singaporeans are capable of. We’ve made a lot of friends and there has been a lot of goodwill exchanged. We need to maximize on these friendships for the future.”