Awarding Games to China was right move: Rogge

By Karolos Grohmann

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (Reuters) - Awarding the 2008 Olympics to Beijing was the right decision, despite mounting criticism of its human rights record, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said on Monday.

"It was right to award the Games to China for two reason," Rogge told Reuters in an interview.

He said opening up a fifth of the world's population to the idea of Olympism, coupled with the media scrutiny China will be under in the run-up to the August Games, were reason enough.

"This will have a good effect for the evolution of China," Rogge said on the day of the Beijing Games torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia.

"We believe that the Games are a great catalyst for change."

Human rights groups have urged the IOC to pressure Beijing to improve its human rights record, especially after violence in Tibet earlier this month.

In mid-March, Tibetan areas were rocked by anti-Chinese protests and riots, claiming the lives of 18 innocent civilians and a police officer in Tibet's regional capital, Lhasa, and four civilians in nearby Sichuan province, according to the Chinese government.

Exiled Tibetans say as many as 100 Tibetans died.