Beijing Dream Persists for China's Mr. Olympics

"As a young man I knew nothing at all about sports ..." he smiles today. "But then things happened that changed my life."
-- He Zhenliang

It is natural enough that public interest in the Olympic Games is centered on the athletes and their achievements rather than officials who prepare the stage for them. For sportsmen and women, this event is the Big One -- the make-or-break two weeks that will put them in the record books or leave them devastated at not producing their peak form at the only time it really matters.

But losers, perhaps more than those who collect the medals, can always be comforted that they actually made it to the world' top sports event. After all, it is an enshrined Olympics ideal that it is not the winning that matters so much as the honor of taking part.

Such sentiments are equally engraved on the heart of 71-year-old He Zhenliang, honorary president of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), former vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and still a long-serving member of its executive board, who more than any other individual shares the dream of his countrymen and other Chinese the world over that Beijing' bid to host the 2008 Games will be successful.

"It is my last wish in life to help Beijing win its bid," he said. He has devoted virtually his whole life to the Olympic movement and its ideals. In addition, and for him on a personal level, the holding of a Games in Beijing is more than a cause. It is a passion made the more intense after his disappointment in 1993, but even he has to acknowledge it is now history.

Now the countdown is on for the IOC's July 13 vote in Moscow as to who will host the 2008 Olympics, and He's heart -- like those of all Chinese -- is today literally beating that bit faster at the prospect of Beijing finally getting the nod.

Where He is concerned, the wonder is that he became so closely involved and identified with the IOC, where he is held in the highest respect. "As a young man I knew nothing at all about sports ..." he smiles today. "But then things happened that changed my life."

A graduate in electromechanics at Shanghai's Aurora University, He became fluent in French during his student years because that was the language of all the classes he attended. He also learned English. While his first job was as an electromechanical cadre, he was constantly "borrowed" by officialdom for French and English interpreting duties at all manner of international occasions.

In 1952, when aged 23, He was sent as a French and English interpreter with a Chinese delegation to Helsinki for the 15th Olympic Games. He confesses that, at that time, he had no idea what the Games were or what they represented. But surprisingly for him was that his talent for languages, communication skills and professional outlook had brought him to the notice of the then Chinese vice-premier, He Long, who was also Minister in charge of the State Sports Commission (predecessor of the State Sports General Administration of China).

Early in 1955, He was appointed to work with the International Affairs Department of the State Sports Commission (SSC). Recently married to Liang Lijuan, and like her still knowing little or nothing about sports, the newlyweds were actually frustrated by the new appointment. But He, patriot that he was, obeyed the order, not for one moment anticipating that in the ensuing 45 years he would rise from interpreter level to the vaunted position of vice-president of the IOC.

It was typical of the man that, embarked on a sports-administration career initially not of his choosing, he should buckle down and determine that he would make a success of it. Simply, he decided to devote his life to Chinese sports and their participants, and to the Olympic cause. His pledge became real when, after joining the SSC, he began representing China at international sports conferences. Among the first was one which debated the COC's opposition to the IOC's recognition of "two Chinas", a policy in which, ultimately, he was instrumental in overturning. Because of this IOC stance, China did not participate in any Olympics between 1952 and 1984.

Meanwhile, in 1979, the then IOC vice-president Samaranch had been greatly impressed by He's quality of debate at the 81st IOC meeting. Samaranch later told He: "Your answers to all raised questions were respected by many IOC members." It was a compliment indeed from the IOC boss.

Two years after the restoration of China's legal right to "normalize" its re-entry to the IOC in 1979, He was elected as a member of the IOC. In his maiden speech, he proposed that the IOC should consider becoming the driving force of an international, mass sports exercise in which IOC member countries and regions provide facilities for ordinary people as well as athletes, and thus be given the chance to improve their health. This would be in addition to the Olympic Games.

Samaranch afterwards gave careful consideration to He's proposal, and set up a working group to consider all the implications. Thus was born, in 1985, the Sport-For-All Commission under the umbrella of the IOC, with He as vice-chairman.
The same year also saw him elected as one of the members of the IOC Executive Board, enabling him to participate in the discussions and decisions surrounding major sports events. In 1989 He was elected as one of the IOC's four vice-presidents.

Ensuing years saw him serve as the leader of other commissions, including, in 1984, the chairmanship of the prestigious Commission for Culture and Olympic Education.
One of He's most notable achievements was the organization of the 11th Asian Games in Beijing in 1990, a highly successful event that proved beyond doubt the city's capacity to stage a major sports event. Currently, he is advisor to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee (BOBICO).

In this role, he is sharing the vast knowledge and experience he has gained with the IOC and world sports generally in helping what he calls the "younger generation" achieve the dream he holds in his heart and mind -- for Beijing to stage the 2008 Olympic Games.