China's "Mr Olympics" nears fulfillment of dream

BEIJING (Reuters) - Although many thousands of people have worked on the project, few would begrudge He Zhenliang a feeling of personal satisfaction when the Beijing Olympics open on Friday.

The lighting of the flame at the 'Bird's Nest' stadium will be the culmination of more than half a century of looking after China's Olympic interests for the now honorary chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

"It's my dream," the 78-year-old told Reuters. "I hope the Games will satisfy the expectations of my people, the Chinese people, and also the people of the world.

"If the Beijing Games make everybody happy, that will be my personal satisfaction."

He had his first experience of Olympic politics before the 1952 Helsinki Games.

Sport in the new People's Republic had been reorganized but the general secretary of the previous sports administration had fled with the Nationalists to Taiwan.

"That caused some problems," He recalled. "The IOC didn't send us an invitation. We asked several times ... and finally on the day of the opening ceremony, we received the invitation. They said you can both send delegations."

Secure in the knowledge that Taiwan would be unable to get a team to Finland, 40 Chinese set off across Russia by air.

"We took several days and nights to get there and five days before the closing ceremony, we reached there," He said.

"Only our swimmer had a chance to take part. Unfortunately after four days of flight, it was impossible for him to give a good performance.

"But he was the first result of a 'New China' athlete at the Olympic Games."

He was also to be the last for 28 years.

SOLE REPRESENTATIVES

At an IOC session in 1954, a vote was passed to recognize the People's Republic as the sole representatives of China.

"Everybody thought the problem of representation was settled," He said, his anger still evident. "But at this time the American (IOC President) Avery Brundage, with no discussion at all, he personally, individually, decided to keep (Taiwan). It was totally against the charter. It was totally arbitrary."

The issue came to head before the 1956 Melbourne Games.

"Unfortunately, Taiwan sent some people to the Olympic Village and they raised their flag under the name Formosa China," He said.

"We could not tolerate that, so we protested and they just ignored our protests and we had to withdraw.

"In 1958 came the total severance of our relations."

As for many in China, the 1960s were not a happy time for He.

"In the Cultural Revolution ... I was put aside from my work from 1966 to 1971, including two years of agricultural labor and another year or so of physical labor," he recalled.

"Sport in China was seriously damaged, we lost at least one and a half generations of athletes."

He was recalled to the sports administration in 1971 just as China took its seat at the United Nations.

"So many, many friends in the sports organizations, they think, we cannot call ourself international without the participation of China," He said.

In 1972, Lord Killanin replaced Brundage.

"Lord Killanin sympathized very much with our desire," He said. "He said, 'to solve this question, we need evolution, not revolution. Evolution needs time'."

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

In 1979, the Chinese government changed its position towards Taiwan from "liberation" to "peaceful reunification" and the U.S. finally established diplomatic relations with Beijing.

After several IOC meetings and court cases, the People's Republic of China was finally accepted back into the Olympic fold.

Chinese team went to the Lake Placid Winter Games in 1980 but the return to the Summer Games at Moscow the same year was stymied by the boycott in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afganistan.

"I felt a little bit sorry that after many, many years of fighting and work, we had to stay at home," He said.

But China did return at Los Angeles four years later when the team brought home 15 gold medals.

By 1985, He was a member of the IOC's Executive Board and planning how to fulfill China's long-cherished dream of hosting a Games.

Beijing's bid to stage the 2000 Olympics failed by two votes at Monte Carlo in 1993, which He put down to political interference from the West, the 1989 Tiananmen "incident", Sydney's superior infrastructure and corruption.

Lessons were learned, however, and by the time He came to present Beijing's next bid at Moscow in 2001, he was very confident.

"On my way to Moscow, I was almost sure," he said. "I could feel the general feeling of IOC members was that it was time for Beijing."

He is clear on what he wants the 2008 Games to leave behind for the people of China.

"There will be a material legacy ... but I value more the mental and spiritual legacy," he said.

"For me, the Olympic spirit is to use sport as a means to develop people mentally and physically, especially the youth, and to build a society which respects human dignity," he said.

(additional reporting by Liu Zhen)