IOC to Vote on 2008 Olympics' City

July 13, 2001 -- It's not whether you win or lose, it's where you play the Games.

That's the motto today in Moscow, where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will vote on where the 2008 Summer Games will be held. The three top candidates to host the 2008 Games include Toronto, Paris and Beijing.

While Toronto boasts a city and country relatively free of political strife, and Paris offers the best food and wine (as well as an opportunity to see the Eiffel Tower while playing beach volleyball), Beijing is considered the odds-on favorite to win the bid. London oddsmakers at William Hill had Beijing as the 1/5 odds on favorite to win the Games, ahead of Toronto at 3/1, Paris at 7/1, Osaka at 33/1 and Istanbul at 66/1.

Beijing is also the most controversial pick for the games, mainly because of China's record on human rights, including their reportedly poor treatment of some religious groups, intellectuals, and journalists. The country also reportedly put 1,800 people to death last year — more than the rest of the world's nation's combined. Protests by Tibetan and human rights groups have not abated today, and several arrests have been reported.

See the sidebar on protests in Moscow.

But the Chinese believe that hosting the Olympics would not only be a great honor, but the chance to host the Olympics would be a gesture that would be pro-human rights.

"The human rights conditions in China have been improving in the past 15 years," said Wang Wei, secretary general of the Beijing Bid Committee in Moscow.. "Especially since the 1990s with the "Opening Up" Policy of China and with the economic development in China, all aspects of social access have been enhanced, including human rights conditions."

In anticipation of hosting the games, the country has launched a public awareness campaign to drum up support. And the country plans to spend up to $20 billion towards sports arenas, renovating hotels, and cleaning up the air and environment.

"Our pursuit for the Olympic ideals has never succeeded, and we kept out promise and we worked very hard and we honor our promise," Wei said. "We built a new airport, new highways, and we tried to enhance people's awareness of the environment and their awareness of about everything that is related to the Olympic Games."

Only a Contender in 2000

Beijing was also a top contender for the 2000 games, but they missed the chance by just two votes. Many of China's 1.3 billion people hope a favorable decision from the IOC today would be a vote of acceptance of the giant nation as a respected player on the world scene after a century and a half of humiliation at the hands of the West and Japanese militarists.

Residents in Beijing and the rest of China still were still in high spirits, although guardedly optimistic. "I woke up this morning in good spirits," said 43-year-old businessman Xiang Hui. "There's a 90 percent chance it's going to be Beijing."

"I'm very nervous," said dressmaker Li Bing, 24. "I don't know if we'll get it. If we do then the Chinese people will be very proud."

"This is our destiny," said 73-year-old Muslim Ru Tinglai. "There's nothing more to say."

Chinese Newspaper Raises Prospect of Losing Vote — Again

The People's Daily, the Chinese flagship newspaper, raised the issue in an editorial in today's paper that called for the nation to be "more calm and mature."

The tone of this newspaper was more philosophical than the euphoria it expressed in 2000.

"After the torture of failure, after the highest and lowest spirits, after eight years of development and progress, people have more understanding of the meaning of the bid for the Olympics," the newspaper editorial said.

The paper and the citizenry of China see an IOC as a defeat and an embarrassment for President Jiang Zemin and reformist leaders. It would show that they had misjudged the international mood.

Should Beijing win the vote, the Bush Administration reportedly will not block China's bid, apparently in hopes that the world spotlight will make it more likely that China will refrain from any provocative acts, particularly toward Taiwan, in the next seven years.

"The Olympics is one of the great bridges that connects countries and connects the family of mankind," said Salt Lake City Olympic organizing committee president Mitt Romney. "In my view, it's therefore appropriate that Beijing be considered as a host city, with just as much deliberation and consideration as any other bid."