Significance of Olympic torch relay
Monday, 1 December 2008
Md. Mahfuzur Rahman Siddique
IN his valuable speech at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympiad in the Bird's Nest, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Dr. Jacques Rogge made a very significant comment when he said, "These were truly exceptional games". The curtain of the 16-day 'greatest show on earth' fell on August 24, 2008 through the handing over of the Olympic flag to Mr. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, the Host City of 2012 Games. This city hosted two earlier editions of the games in 1908 and 1948 respectively. If this scribe has understood the common intent of the words, he would say that the IOC president has used these to connote the overall success of the Beijing Olympics. The Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG), the people and the government of the People's Republic of China along with its respective agencies and the NGOs deserve commendation for successfully staging the games.
The sincere assistance rendered to the BOCOG by the IOC and the keen personal attention and all-out efforts of its President in ensuring the uninterrupted organization of the games are also highly commendable. The enthralling opening ceremony depicted the five thousand years' old history, culture and tradition of China. The closing ceremony was also a spectacular one. The configurations, constructions and renovations of the competition venues met the technical specifications applicable for the respective discipline and event. Arrangements of pre-competition practice facilities were as per requirements. The athletes, officials and guests were entertained by the BOCOG with the delicacies of traditional Chinese, Asiatic, Continental and Mediterranean cuisine in the massive dining hall. It accorded most hearty receptions to the NOCs at the welcome plaza.
The participants enjoyed the enthralling cultural shows. Detailed arrangements were made for safe and timely transportation of athletes and officials to the practice and competition venues to, and from, village in eco-friendly vehicles. The clinical and medical services rendered by the polyclinic were excellent. The MPC and IPC were equipped with state of the art ICT facilities. Sufficient arrangements of doping control were in place. The BOCOG made best efforts to make the Games green and leave a positive legacy of the Games on environment and sustainable development. The conducting and officiating of the events signified the smooth application of the Rules of the Games. The athletes exercised Fair Play up to a satisfactory level. From start to finish, the overall organization and management of the games were smooth, well-coordinated and met the expectation of the World Sporting Community and, therefore, exceptional, save the celebration of the torch relay.
The torch relay is an essential element of the Olympics. The journey of the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics named 'journey of harmony' was unfortunately not harmonious. The torch reflected the traditional Chinese design called 'Lucky Cloud'. The starting of the journey of harmony at the foot of Olympia, Greece, the site of ancient Olympics came under a cloud. A chartered Air China A330 Airbus of red and yellow colour, the colours of the games brought the torch in Greece for traditional ignition at Olympia. Actress Maria Nafpliotou, playing the role of High Priestess ignited the torch of the first bearer Alexandros Nikolaidis of Greece, a 2004 Athens Olympiad Taekwondo silver medallist on March 24, 2008. No sooner had he handed it over to the second bearer, Olympic champion Chinese women breaststroke swimmer than the RWB men breached the security and tried to obstruct the BOCOG Chief to make a speech in the lighting ceremony. While the ceremonial formality of handing over the torch to the BOCOG officials by the Greek ones were in progress in Athens on March 30, 2008, the local police detained some protesters to disperse them. This quite unexpected disruptive behaviour of the demonstrators spread at different legs of the relay has done a great disservice to the truest spirit of the celebration of this age-old Olympic tradition.
Unfortunately, most of the legs of this longest ever torch relay scheduled to cover a distance of 85,077 miles(136,918 kms) in 130 days through 21 countries of five continents and held in 21 cities including 18 capitals were disrupted by sporadic protests. This chaotic condition greatly impeded the smooth running of the relay. In most of the European and North American legs of the relay, the demonstrators attempting to halt or resist it turned violent. The violence against the torch relay was relatively less in North America than Europe. To restore order and prevent the disorderly mob from frustrating the ceremony, police arrested some persons in six legs of the relay besides the first instance of detention at the Athens leg. Interestingly, the numbers of detainees were five in three places and raised up to 35 in one place. Among the protesters, some arrested Chinese of an ethnic origin faced deportation. An instance of the arrest of a Chinese student also occurred. The demonstrations were overwhelmingly anti-Chinese and scarcely pro-Chinese.
The violent activities of the widely spread demonstrations gave rise to some undesirable situations which marred the celebration. Sensing possible security threat, the local organizers of a South Asian Country avoided outdoor rally and held the ceremony indoors inside a stadium. Due to security concern, the planned route has changed twice in a particular leg. An electronic media worker wounded in police action had to be hospitalized in an unconscious state. Another four got injured in mob violence. Demonstrators attempted to extinguish the flame with water or fire extinguisher more than once. For the safety of the torch, the organizers extinguished the flame as many as five times in one single leg. The protesters attempted to snatch the torch.
The most heart-rending, however, was the repeated assault of a physically challenged person by the protesters who was carrying the torch in a wheelchair. The gravity of the situation moved Dr. Jacques Rogge so much that he termed it a 'crisis' for the IOC. Under Rule 7.2 of the Olympic Charter, among others, 'flame and torches' as defined in Rule 13.1 & 13.2 thereof are 'Olympic properties'. Most obviously, as the Executive Head of the IOC and as the top Leader of the World Olympic Movement, he took instantaneous steps to protect the sanctity of the Holy Olympic Flame of the Beijing Olympiad. Through his most sincere and dedicated efforts, the crisis ended.
The 'Journey of harmony' of the torch towards the final destination overcame the disruptions at different legs. Strongly determined to make the ceremony a success, he did not cancel it in spite of this crisis responding to the call of some IOC members. In this regard, he took relentless efforts, which he termed 'silent diplomacy'. Ultimately, his wholehearted shuttle diplomacy paved the way to the success of the celebration. In the face of this crisis, the only strong stance he took was the warning of expulsion of the athletes attempting to carry a certain flag at the Olympic venues.
The attempt to snatch the torch, trying to extinguish the flame, extinguishing the flame by the organizers, the assault of a disabled torch bearer and the police actions during the torch relay had arisen out of some political issues from which the IOC and the Olympic Games are pole apart. The suddenly erupted political situation of a riotous nature in a region of the host country (city), the relation of its government with an African country, its outlook on a spiritual or religious sect and some other issues of political implications triggered the anti-torch-relay demonstrations in most of its Euro-North American legs sometimes turning violent.
Against this backdrop, discussion on Olympic torch relay predominantly featured the agenda of the recent meeting of the IOC Executive Board (EB) in Athens. The bitter experience of the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics prompted the IOC EB to concentrate on the propriety of this celebration in staging future Olympiads. Deliberation of the meeting on whether the global torch relays are still a good idea was reported in the news captioned 'IOC to rethink global torch relay after the anti-China protests' carried by a Dhaka daily in a contemporary issue quoting AFP as the source.
The proposal of a rethink on the worldwide celebration of this relay is a bad news for the millions of enthusiasts of the Olympics the world over. They are strongly in favour of the continuance of this time-honoured tradition of the Olympic Games.
At the same time, it is encouraging to see that in the post-meeting press briefing of the same IOC EB meeting Dr. Jacques Rogge said, "I'm not saying we'll continue this, I'm saying that we'll study this objectively, but I want to insist on the great symbol of the torch". Torch relay is a great tradition of modern Olympic Games.
The writer is NCD, Councillor, NOC, Bangladesh; Member-Secretary, Sports & Environment Committee, and Member, Solidarity Committee
IN his valuable speech at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympiad in the Bird's Nest, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Dr. Jacques Rogge made a very significant comment when he said, "These were truly exceptional games". The curtain of the 16-day 'greatest show on earth' fell on August 24, 2008 through the handing over of the Olympic flag to Mr. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, the Host City of 2012 Games. This city hosted two earlier editions of the games in 1908 and 1948 respectively. If this scribe has understood the common intent of the words, he would say that the IOC president has used these to connote the overall success of the Beijing Olympics. The Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG), the people and the government of the People's Republic of China along with its respective agencies and the NGOs deserve commendation for successfully staging the games.
The sincere assistance rendered to the BOCOG by the IOC and the keen personal attention and all-out efforts of its President in ensuring the uninterrupted organization of the games are also highly commendable. The enthralling opening ceremony depicted the five thousand years' old history, culture and tradition of China. The closing ceremony was also a spectacular one. The configurations, constructions and renovations of the competition venues met the technical specifications applicable for the respective discipline and event. Arrangements of pre-competition practice facilities were as per requirements. The athletes, officials and guests were entertained by the BOCOG with the delicacies of traditional Chinese, Asiatic, Continental and Mediterranean cuisine in the massive dining hall. It accorded most hearty receptions to the NOCs at the welcome plaza.
The participants enjoyed the enthralling cultural shows. Detailed arrangements were made for safe and timely transportation of athletes and officials to the practice and competition venues to, and from, village in eco-friendly vehicles. The clinical and medical services rendered by the polyclinic were excellent. The MPC and IPC were equipped with state of the art ICT facilities. Sufficient arrangements of doping control were in place. The BOCOG made best efforts to make the Games green and leave a positive legacy of the Games on environment and sustainable development. The conducting and officiating of the events signified the smooth application of the Rules of the Games. The athletes exercised Fair Play up to a satisfactory level. From start to finish, the overall organization and management of the games were smooth, well-coordinated and met the expectation of the World Sporting Community and, therefore, exceptional, save the celebration of the torch relay.
The torch relay is an essential element of the Olympics. The journey of the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics named 'journey of harmony' was unfortunately not harmonious. The torch reflected the traditional Chinese design called 'Lucky Cloud'. The starting of the journey of harmony at the foot of Olympia, Greece, the site of ancient Olympics came under a cloud. A chartered Air China A330 Airbus of red and yellow colour, the colours of the games brought the torch in Greece for traditional ignition at Olympia. Actress Maria Nafpliotou, playing the role of High Priestess ignited the torch of the first bearer Alexandros Nikolaidis of Greece, a 2004 Athens Olympiad Taekwondo silver medallist on March 24, 2008. No sooner had he handed it over to the second bearer, Olympic champion Chinese women breaststroke swimmer than the RWB men breached the security and tried to obstruct the BOCOG Chief to make a speech in the lighting ceremony. While the ceremonial formality of handing over the torch to the BOCOG officials by the Greek ones were in progress in Athens on March 30, 2008, the local police detained some protesters to disperse them. This quite unexpected disruptive behaviour of the demonstrators spread at different legs of the relay has done a great disservice to the truest spirit of the celebration of this age-old Olympic tradition.
Unfortunately, most of the legs of this longest ever torch relay scheduled to cover a distance of 85,077 miles(136,918 kms) in 130 days through 21 countries of five continents and held in 21 cities including 18 capitals were disrupted by sporadic protests. This chaotic condition greatly impeded the smooth running of the relay. In most of the European and North American legs of the relay, the demonstrators attempting to halt or resist it turned violent. The violence against the torch relay was relatively less in North America than Europe. To restore order and prevent the disorderly mob from frustrating the ceremony, police arrested some persons in six legs of the relay besides the first instance of detention at the Athens leg. Interestingly, the numbers of detainees were five in three places and raised up to 35 in one place. Among the protesters, some arrested Chinese of an ethnic origin faced deportation. An instance of the arrest of a Chinese student also occurred. The demonstrations were overwhelmingly anti-Chinese and scarcely pro-Chinese.
The violent activities of the widely spread demonstrations gave rise to some undesirable situations which marred the celebration. Sensing possible security threat, the local organizers of a South Asian Country avoided outdoor rally and held the ceremony indoors inside a stadium. Due to security concern, the planned route has changed twice in a particular leg. An electronic media worker wounded in police action had to be hospitalized in an unconscious state. Another four got injured in mob violence. Demonstrators attempted to extinguish the flame with water or fire extinguisher more than once. For the safety of the torch, the organizers extinguished the flame as many as five times in one single leg. The protesters attempted to snatch the torch.
The most heart-rending, however, was the repeated assault of a physically challenged person by the protesters who was carrying the torch in a wheelchair. The gravity of the situation moved Dr. Jacques Rogge so much that he termed it a 'crisis' for the IOC. Under Rule 7.2 of the Olympic Charter, among others, 'flame and torches' as defined in Rule 13.1 & 13.2 thereof are 'Olympic properties'. Most obviously, as the Executive Head of the IOC and as the top Leader of the World Olympic Movement, he took instantaneous steps to protect the sanctity of the Holy Olympic Flame of the Beijing Olympiad. Through his most sincere and dedicated efforts, the crisis ended.
The 'Journey of harmony' of the torch towards the final destination overcame the disruptions at different legs. Strongly determined to make the ceremony a success, he did not cancel it in spite of this crisis responding to the call of some IOC members. In this regard, he took relentless efforts, which he termed 'silent diplomacy'. Ultimately, his wholehearted shuttle diplomacy paved the way to the success of the celebration. In the face of this crisis, the only strong stance he took was the warning of expulsion of the athletes attempting to carry a certain flag at the Olympic venues.
The attempt to snatch the torch, trying to extinguish the flame, extinguishing the flame by the organizers, the assault of a disabled torch bearer and the police actions during the torch relay had arisen out of some political issues from which the IOC and the Olympic Games are pole apart. The suddenly erupted political situation of a riotous nature in a region of the host country (city), the relation of its government with an African country, its outlook on a spiritual or religious sect and some other issues of political implications triggered the anti-torch-relay demonstrations in most of its Euro-North American legs sometimes turning violent.
Against this backdrop, discussion on Olympic torch relay predominantly featured the agenda of the recent meeting of the IOC Executive Board (EB) in Athens. The bitter experience of the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics prompted the IOC EB to concentrate on the propriety of this celebration in staging future Olympiads. Deliberation of the meeting on whether the global torch relays are still a good idea was reported in the news captioned 'IOC to rethink global torch relay after the anti-China protests' carried by a Dhaka daily in a contemporary issue quoting AFP as the source.
The proposal of a rethink on the worldwide celebration of this relay is a bad news for the millions of enthusiasts of the Olympics the world over. They are strongly in favour of the continuance of this time-honoured tradition of the Olympic Games.
At the same time, it is encouraging to see that in the post-meeting press briefing of the same IOC EB meeting Dr. Jacques Rogge said, "I'm not saying we'll continue this, I'm saying that we'll study this objectively, but I want to insist on the great symbol of the torch". Torch relay is a great tradition of modern Olympic Games.
The writer is NCD, Councillor, NOC, Bangladesh; Member-Secretary, Sports & Environment Committee, and Member, Solidarity Committee