China's application for the Olympic Games in 2000
China organized the first great international sports event in 1990 when the PRC hosted the 11th Asia Games in Beijing. These Asia Games were considered a dress rehearsal for a possible application to become the host city of the Games in 2000. The application was decided in April 1991 and the "2000 Olympic Games Bidding Committee" was founded.
Beijing was made candidate city without a national pre- selection process. Beijing's international competitors were Berlin, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Manchester, Sydney, Milan and Toronto. Also in this application Beijing was the most controversial candidate city. Mainly with reference to the situation of human rights and the violent suppression of the student protest in 1989 especially Western countries refused Beijing as a possible venue.
The election was lost to Sydney with only two votes. Reputedly the Australian John Coates bribed the IOC members Charles Mukorea (Kenya) and Francis Njangweso (Uganda) on the eve of the election during dinner offering them 35.000 dollars each masked as sport development aid. Despite that Chinese athletes successfully participated in the Games in Sydney in 2000 and won 3rd rank behind the USA and Russia with 28 gold, 16 silver and 15 bronze medals.
Beijing's bid for the Olympic Games in 2008
Beijing's choosing
On 6th September in 1999 the "Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee" (BOBICO) which was supposed to organize Beijing's application was founded with the approval of the Chinese state council. Beijing's mayor Liu Qi was president of the BOBICO. As in 1991 there was no national preliminary selection of candidate cities.
The application procedure
The application for the Olympic Games in 2008 consisted of two phases as decided by the IOC. The first phase lasted from 1st February 2000 until the end of August 2000. During this period the applying cities were so- called "bid applicants" and were required to answer a questionnaire. The answers were assessed by a working group comprised of external experts and IOC administration members from 22nd June till 10th July. Only then the applying cities officially became Applicant Cities. On 28th August 2000 Beijing was officially accepted Applicant City by the IOC Executive Board. Beijing's rivals to host the Games in 2008 were Istanbul ( Turkey), Osaka (Japan), Paris (France) and Toronto (Canada).
The second phase lasted from 1st September 2000 until 15th July 2001. On 1st September an Evaluation Commission was set up, which was supposed to make inspections of the Candidate Cities, before issuing a report. The foundation of the Evaluation Commission was an important consequence of the bribery scandal connected with the Winter Olympics of Salt Lake City. Members of the IOC were no longer allowed to travel to the Candidate Cities.
Beijing's presentation and assessment
On 13th September the Candidate Cities for the first time got the possibility to introduce their cities in a 10-minute talk to the IOC Executive Committee in Lausanne. On 17th February Beijing entered its application forms. In the period from February till April the Evaluation Commission inspected every Candidate City. The first visit of the Commission was to Beijing from 21st February till 24th February. On 15th May the Evaluation Commission entered the report on the Candidate Cities, which testified to Beijing's high quality application:
"It is the Commission's belief that a Beijing Games would leave a unique legacy to China and to sport and the Commission is confident that Beijing could organize excellent Games."
The result of the election
The last chance for the Candidate Cities to present their application was a one- hour lecture during the plenary assembly of the IOC in Moscow on 13th July 2001. On the day of the decision of the placing of the Olympic Games 119 out of 122 delegates were present. Delegates from the Candidate Cities' countries are not allowed to vote.
The result of the vote was notified by IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch at 6 p.m. Moscow time (11 p.m. Beijing time). Beijing already came out on top against its competitors surprisingly clear during the second ballot.
