The Beijing Olympics are less than four months away and the excitement is building despite the human rights protests.
Donald McLean, president of the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee, visited Beijing recently with all the other chiefs.
The Olympic committee meets every two years in various cities around the world. This was also an opportunity to meet with the International Olympic Committee executive.
McLean thought the meeting was ‘very productive’. He said: ‘We ironed out a few issues like distribution of vehicles to smaller countries and freedom of speech for athletes within guidelines of the Olympic charter. Similarly, athletes also have a right not to speak if they don’t want to.
‘There was also a resolution passed that all teams will be sent to Beijing. There will be no boycott. I think it’s a positive thing.
‘We like to separate sport from politics, but it never happens. Jacques Rogge (IOC president) said sport can’t change politics. He said: ‘While I urge China to reconcile things in Tibet, it’s more important to go to Beijing’.
‘This is effectively China’s coming out party to the West. It has a booming economy which grew 12 per cent last year. There are a lot of changes. They plan to have an opening and closing ceremony like nothing you’ve ever seen before.’
McLean was impressed with the high standards of all the facilities there. Unlike Athens four years ago, everything is already ready and fully tested and in order.
He found that the only negative aspect of Beijing is the air pollution. ‘When I got in there at night I thought it was a fog. The next morning it was like a mist. They’re trying to create ‘Blue Sky Days’ and will have lots of those days for the Olympics when they take half the vehicles off the road and close factories. Somehow, they’re even going to make the clouds rain.
‘The air quality will affect endurance events. I don’t expect too many records, certainly not in cycling. But the aquatic centre is enclosed and records could fall there.’
World record holder Haile Gebrselassie won’t be running the marathon because of the poor air.
So far sprinter Cydonie Mothersill and swimming brothers Shaune and Brett Fraser are the only Caymanians to qualify for Beijing. McLean is optimistic that sprinter Tyrell Cuffy and sprint hurdler Ronald Forbes will make the team.
‘Both have come extremely close and I think they have a good chance. If they haven’t qualified by the end of May when their college track seasons finish, there’s a possibility that we’ll send them to a high performance centre in Atlanta for fine tuning so that they can compete at other meets and hopefully qualify.’
McLean is pleased that the Olympic committee’s accounts have finally been prepared, by KPMG. ‘The next step is to get them audited. It’s all about affordability. Deloitte wanted too much to do it. Ernst and Young have agreed to audit them in the summer.’
McLean is also proud that two Cayman youngsters, Joseph Jackson and Courtney Stafford, both 17, have been selected to go to the Olympic Youth Camp which is a fabulous cultural, educational and sporting camp during the Olympics, totally funded by the IOC. ‘They deserve it.’
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