IOC wants Beijing Games gamble to pay off
BEIJING (Reuters) - When the curtain for the Beijing Olympics is raised on Friday, it will not only be the Chinese organizers who will be hoping the opening ceremony is a major international hit.
With an estimated audience of more than 1 billion, the opening ceremony, which will showcase China to the world, will also put the International Olympic Committee in the spotlight.
Since awarding the Games to the Chinese capital in 2001, the IOC has had to endure a different emotional rollercoaster than for past Games.
There was never any question if the spectacular venues would be ready on time or if enough funding was in place -- two of the most common problems faced by Games organizers.
Instead the IOC had to defend its decision to award the Games to Beijing amid a seven-year stream of international criticism of China's human rights record, its policies in Tibet and more recently in Sudan's Darfur region.
The guardians of the Olympic ideals insisted they were bringing Olympic spirit to one fifth of the world's population which was now opening up to the world.
"The Games are a force for the good," IOC President Jacques Rogge often said.
"But the IOC is not a panacea for all ills," he said, as calls for the IOC to press China to improve its human rights record grew louder.
To make matters worse, the image of the Olympics was tarnished months before the Games when its international torch relay was peppered with violent protests and demonstrations by activists and human rights groups.
This prompted senior IOC member Dick Pound this week to reveal many countries had considered boycotting the Games because of the relay disaster and the OIC to review future relays.
Just days before the opening ceremony the IOC landed in hot water again when Chinese authorities blocked several "sensitive" websites, triggering a media backlash with calls for unfettered Internet access.
The IOC was again on the back foot, saying later this crisis should have been better handled.
Come Friday evening it will be hoping a stunning show created and kept under wraps by the Chinese will help their Chinese gamble pay off and drive the movement into a new era.
(Editing by Alison Williams)
