Beijing Games will change China, IOC chief predicts

Olympic president sees better global view of mainland

The 2008 Beijing Games will change China, and the world's understanding of the host country, the International Olympics Committee president predicted yesterday.

But as the smog returned with a vengeance over the capital, Jacques Rogge refused to say in which way - or by how much - China would be transformed over the next three weeks and thereafter.

'The proof is in the eating,' he said during an interview with the South China Morning Post. 'We will make an assessment after the Games,' he said. 'But I believe these Olympics will change the country, and will also change the perception of the world towards this country.'

Dr Rogge said the IOC and the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games had faced many problems, such as media restrictions, and the stubborn pollution. But such issues had 'lent their own characteristics to the challenges the IOC has faced in ensuring the movement leaves lasting legacies', he said.

He fell short of mentioning the two Games where the Olympic movement is credited with ushering in sweeping social transformations or influencing regime changes - Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul in 1988.

But he drew on his 40 years of Olympic experience to compare Beijing's preparation hurdles with those of other host cities that faced challenges.