On September 24, 1993, when IOC President Samaranch announced that Sydney had qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games, China failed to bid for the Olympic Games.
However, while this result is regrettable to all, it also raises deep doubts about impartiality. In the first three rounds of voting, China was far ahead, but in the fourth round, it was unexpectedly two votes lower than Sydney, which is unacceptable.
Years later, the truth about the 2008 Beijing Olympics was revealed, and it turned out that the scandal stemmed from the bribery of representatives of Kenya and Uganda by representatives of Australia.
This kind of unethical bribery seriously violates the principle of fairness and justice in the voting process. So, what really happened during the 1993 Olympic bid?
And how to solve the problem of bribery in the process of bidding for the Olympic Games? Let's take a look back at the experience of the first Olympic bid.
In 1993, China announced to the world for the first time that it would bid for the Olympic Games. That year, our country had just recovered from the trauma of the First Sino-Japanese War. Although the corruption of the Qing Dynasty and the weak economic strength of the country made us miss the first Olympic Games, we have always followed the Olympic Games and look forward to showing our strength on the international stage.
This dream was made even clearer in 1908 in the "Three Questions of the Olympic Games" put forward by the magazine "Tianjin Youth". Among them, the first question is: when will Chinese athletes be able to participate in the Olympic Games?
In 1932, Liu Changchun "went to the meeting alone" and participated in the Olympic Games held by Los Angeles, USA, and successfully solved this problem. Two people were supposed to attend, but he was unable to attend because Yu Xiwei was being watched by Japan.
Liu Changchun represented the Chinese team for the first time, running in the Olympic arena, but due to seasickness, he ran out of energy and missed the medal. Still, we didn't give up.
In 1993, China once again bid for the Olympic Games, demonstrating our determination and strength to the world. Our dreams have come true, but our quest never ends.
Because we have always believed that the Olympic spirit is not only a competition, but also a force for peace, friendship and progress.
Xu Haifeng made a splash at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, winning his first Olympic gold medal with an outstanding score of 566 rings, filling a gap in China's Olympic history and successfully answering Liu Changchun's second question.
Although the first two issues have been successfully resolved, the question of when our country will be able to host an Olympic Games has remained unresolved and has become a major suspense in the minds of many people.
It was not until 1990 that China hosted the Asian Games for the first time, which fully proved that China has the strength to host comprehensive international sports competitions.
Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China's economy has developed rapidly, and its comprehensive strength has been significantly enhanced. This makes our athletes perform well in table tennis, volleyball and other sports, which fully proves the sports strength of our country.
On the eve of the Asian Games, Comrade Xiaoping even couldn't wait to ask Zhang Baifa, vice mayor of Beijing: "Have you made up your mind to bid for the Olympic Games?" "This shows that our country attaches great importance to sports.
In February 1991, China formally submitted Beijing's written application to the International Olympic Committee to host the 2000 Olympic Games. After fierce competition, on April 16, 1992, the International Olympic Committee announced that Beijing had become one of the candidate cities to host the 2000 Summer Olympics.
This news greatly encouraged the Chinese people, and everyone said that they finally had the opportunity to stand on the world stage and prove to the world that we Chinese are no longer the sick men of East Asia.
Beijing's successful bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games was fraught with challenges and difficulties, which attracted widespread attention around the world. Among them, the United States has the greatest opposition. Although the United States did not apply to host the Games, it strongly opposed China's right to host the Games.
They are wary of China and fear that China will raise its international standing by hosting the Olympics. Therefore, in June 1993, the United States again imposed charges on China and used this as an excuse to oppose China's eligibility to host the host.
However, Samaranch does not share the view of the United States, arguing that China is a country with an Olympic spirit and that the reasons for the United States' opposition are only an excuse to break the rules of the Olympics.
In the end, Beijing successfully qualified for the bid.
In March 1993, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sent a delegation to inspect Beijing's transportation and financial situation, which met the requirements of the Olympic bid. Despite the rejection of its first Olympic bid, the United States has persistently taken Western journalists to China to find problems.
They took negative images of Beijing and maliciously interpreted and reported on them. However, none of this has affected China's continued bid for the Olympics. In the voting round, we received the highest number of votes in the first three rounds, surpassing competitors such as Istanbul and Berlin, which put pressure on the United States.
If China does not qualify for the bid, they will not participate in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, USA. "Clearly, they are slandering China's lack of sportsmanship.
China will not be swayed by any foreign **, and we quickly had an explanation: this is not our letter, it is purely a malicious rumor. These turmoil passed quickly and did not affect our bid for the Olympics.
On September 23, 1993, everyone was so excited that they couldn't sleep because the results were due to be announced in the early hours of the next morning. Even Comrade Xiaoping wanted to stay up all night waiting for the results.
The staff around him were very worried about his health and hurriedly advised him to pay attention to rest. Comrade Xiaoping listened to the advice of the staff and fell asleep. However, the next day came a sad piece of news.
At 2 o'clock on September 24, 1994, the International Olympic Committee announced that Sydney had won the right to host the 2000 Olympic Games. Beijing received 43 votes, while Sydney received 45.
At that time, many people shed tears of regret. Why did we all lead in the first few rounds of voting, only to lose to Sydney by two votes?
In the source network, the reason for the failure of the first Olympic bid has become a hot topic. Zhang Baifa, who is in charge of China's bid for the Olympic Games, heard the results and blurted out: "It's someone abroad who is playing tricks!" ”
He believes that because foreign countries are afraid of China's rise, they often make small moves to hinder China's development. Hearing Zhang Baifa's words, Comrade Xiaoping was silent for a long time, and then said helplessly: "This is expected. ”
As soon as the results of the vote came out, there was a heated discussion about the two votes that Beijing lacked. Suspicions began to arise about Taiwan and North Korea. Taiwan was a part of China, but relations between Taiwan and the mainland were not good at that time, and the Taiwan authorities often made small moves.
Even in early September 1993, Taiwan openly expressed doubts about Beijing's bid to host the Olympics.
Comrade Xiaoping's policy decision has won the support of the broad masses of Taiwan compatriots, among whom Wu Ching-kuo, member of the Chinese Taiwan Olympic Committee, is one of them. In the vote, Wu Jingguo showed a ballot paper with "Beijing" written on it, which is exactly what he cast in the fourth round of voting.
It turned out that Wu Jingguo finally chose Beijing as his choice. His decision stemmed from his deep love for the motherland and his deep understanding of the blood ties of the compatriots on both sides of the strait.
Even though his parents never interfered with his choice, he received their encouragement before leaving: "Be sure to vote for Beijing." This decision is not only his own, but also the people on both sides of the strait.
Seeing this result, the people on both sides of the strait were moved to tears, and their hearts were full of warmth and hope.
Because of the contradictions caused by the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, we have expressed doubts that China will be able to get a vote from North Korea. However, it turned out that North Korea still voted for China in the end, because they were grateful for China's help in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Jin Yushun, a member of the Communist Party, did not betray his friends because he remembered the friendship of the year. The survey found that the decrease in the number of votes was associated with the representatives of Egypt and Bulgaria.
Despite China's friendly relations with these two countries, the two countries were unable to participate in the voting process in Monaco for various reasons. The Egyptian commissioner was unable to travel to Monaco due to old age and infirmity, and his condition had worsened repeatedly; The Bulgarian commissioner, on the other hand, was unable to leave the country due to the revocation of his passport due to domestic political struggles.
Although the loss of these two votes is regrettable, it is not the main reason for the failure of China's bid for the Olympic Games. The real reason is that Australia is bribing behind the scenes. During the voting process, Australia found itself behind China in the number of votes and tried to redeem the disadvantage by discrediting China's ** strategy, but after failing, they decided to resort to bribery.
In order to win the support of Kenya and Uganda before the vote, the Australian delegates privately gave bribes of $35,000 each under the pretext of eating.
They tried to use the bribes to get Sydney's support in the fourth round of voting. After a brief hesitation, the two African delegates accepted bribes from Australia.
They may have been under financial pressure or greed and eventually abandoned the Olympic sportsmanship. Although our country found out about this many years later, unfortunately we have not been able to change the outcome of the vote.
However, there is much more to the bribery in the Olympic bidding process.
At the end of 1998, the scandal in Salt Lake City, USA, was on the list. A particular letter revealed that the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee's scholarship to the daughter of an IOC member would end in 1999, revealing the shady nature of Salt Lake City's bribery of IOC members to bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The investigation found that Salt Lake City had repeatedly bribed IOC members with cash, gifts and scholarships to improve the odds of a successful bid. The scandal has outraged people around the globe because it has seriously undermined the principles of fairness and justice and has raised questions about the professional ethics of these Olympic committee members.
Samaranch decisively dismissed all the members who had violated discipline and made scientific adjustments to the voting rules, successfully quelling the anger. Although the 1993 Olympic bid was unsuccessful, we never gave up on our dream of hosting the Olympic Games.
However, in 1995, when we started bidding to host the 2004 Olympic Games, we were in the critical period of reform and opening up, and we were so devoted to the development of the country's economy that we had no time to take care of the preparations for the Olympic Games, so we could not participate in the application.
The year 2004 marks the centenary of the Olympic Games, and it is highly anticipated that Athens will host the Games.
In 1999, our country's economic strength increased significantly and it was able to host such a grand international event. So, we submitted our application to host the Olympics again.
This time, we have no room for black-box operations, and Western countries will not be able to stop the pace of our Olympic bid. On July 13, 2001, we finally succeeded in winning the right to host the Olympic Games.
When Samaranch announced that China would host the 2008 Olympics, the whole country was in a state of flux.
The Olympic Games not only play a role in boosting the economy and stimulating consumption, but also a stage for a country to show its strength and enhance its international status. On August 8, 2008, Beijing successfully hosted the 29th Summer Olympic Games, attracting participants from 204 countries and regions, fully demonstrating Beijing's excellent organizational ability in transportation, safety, equipment and other aspects, and presenting a wonderful Olympic event for people all over the world.
On February 4, 2022, Beijing successfully hosted the Winter Olympics again, becoming the only "double Olympic city" in the world. In addition, the appearance of mascots such as "Bingdundun" and "Xue Rongrong" also brought joy to the global audience.
However, in recent years, some countries that had been actively campaigning for the right to host the Olympics have begun to show a negative attitude. For example, for the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics, only one country from each will apply to host them.
This may be due to the fact that the cost of hosting the Olympics is too high and the economic benefits are limited. The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, for example, suffered losses.
In addition, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed due to the pandemic, resulting in a loss of nearly $6 billion. Nevertheless, we hope that countries that wish to host the Games will plan their budgets wisely and avoid blind applications.
At the same time, we hope that the Olympic spirit of "Higher, Faster, Stronger" will continue to flourish and return to the original purpose of participating in the Olympic Games.