ROD McGeoch believes in playing fair. A lawyer for more than 20 years, chairman of one of Sydney's major law firms and a leader in the legal community, he expects decisions to be based on the facts.
So when International Olympic Committee members were deciding who would host the 2000 Olympics and Mr McGeoch - then heading Sydney's successful Olympics bid - believed not all the facts about Beijing were being told, he devised a secret plan to ensure they were.
In particular, he wanted the world to hear more about Beijing's human rights record. So he developed a strategy whereby a public relations company in the UK would, behind the scenes and without apparent links to the non-profit company running the Sydney bid, spread the word about China.
'Beijing and Sydney were immediately the favourites, right from the beginning, and in my view quite rightly so. It has always amazed me that all the other bidders did not understand that, the Istanbuls and the Berlins and the Manchesters.
'I can remember some of the people from Manchester in Monte Carlo saying 48 hours before [the decision], 'why are you worrying about China?', ' says 47-year-old Mr McGeoch, in Hong Kong to address last night's Australia Day dinner.
Now when he makes the speeches he is in demand for these days - 120 last year, for groups as varied as eight chief executives to 2,000 financial counsellors - he stresses the importance of assessing the competition: 'Some of these groups had bid a third time, yet they still could not pick their opponent.' Mr McGeoch and his team could. 'When you are the leader with three years to go, your task is to stay out in front,' he says of the years from April 1991 to 1994 during which he took leave from law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth and suspended all other honorary commitments to become chief executive of Sydney Olympics 2000 Bid Ltd.