The International Olympic Committee (IOC) welcomes the discussions that will be held in the coming days in Brussels surrounding the role of sport in Europe. These discussions are important steps towards the draft of a reform treaty agreed upon by the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU) last June.

This new project offers a great opportunity to strengthen the role of sport in Europe and the structures through which it performs. Sport is the biggest social movement in the EU and plays a key role in the fields of integration, education and health. The IOC is convinced that the creation of a legal basis for sport in the EU Reform Treaty would better address the needs of sport and provide a sound legal framework for the future.

Over the past four years, the sports movement has taken a constructive and unified approach that led to the inclusion of sports in the European Constitution in 2004. The recent decision by the EU to revive the process of a new treaty has prompted the sports movement to draft a new text proposal to be considered for inclusion within the Reform Treaty. The IOC is hopeful that this text, which clearly refers to the autonomy of sport, will make its way into the Treaty.

The IOC President, Jacques Rogge, supported this plea on behalf of the Olympic Movement in a letter to the governments of the 27 Member States.

“The responsibility sport has in society and the autonomy with which it regulates itself are central to its credibility and legitimacy”, said IOC President Jacques Rogge. “Autonomy thus means preserving the values of sport, and the existing structures through which it has developed in Europe and around the world. Sport can play its unique role thanks to its autonomy, and this role would be seriously compromised if sport-governing bodies are subject to public interference. Therefore the IOC and the sports movement as a whole hope that this aspect will be taken into consideration”, he added.

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MIA Olympic Special – What’s On

Friday, 26 October on E22 at 9pm, Sunday, 28 October on E22 at 10am (RPT) and on TVM at 5.25pm, and Monday, 29 October on E22 at 2.30pm (RPT) will feature the following:

Featured Event – Handball

In the first week of October the Handball season started with the cameras of MIA Olympic Special going to the University Complex to see how things are developing. Ta’ Xbiex Kavallieri played D6 Living Well, whereas Aloysians Express crossed swords with La Salle Vitality, games from the women’s league. In the meantime the Men’s selection was preparing for the forthcoming 5th EHF Challenge Trophy scheduled for the end of October.

Highlighted Events –

Football International match /

Chess championships

The Malta National Football team played its tenth match of the qualifying campaign at the National Stadium against Moldova. The expectations were high for this match following recent performances and encouraging results. A bumper crowd was present at Ta’ Qali for what resulted as a decider of who was going to finish in the bottom place of the Group.

Between Saturday 6 October and Thursday 18 October the Malta Chess Federation organised the finals of the Malta championships. A total of six players took part in this event, namely Colin Pace, Peter Sammut Briffa, Henry Camilleri, Robert Zerafa, Joseph Gauci and Patrick Zerafa. The time limit was of 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move + 15 minutes added on move 40 per player.

Watch more on these two events on MIA Olympic Special

Olympic archive section

In this interesting Section MIA Olympic Special takes us down memory lane and relives the interesting moments of the previous Olympic Games as a build up for the Beijing 2008 Games.

Schedule available every week on www.nocmalta.org and on The Malta Independent newspaper every Tuesday. Produced in collaboration with E22.

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Majority of Olympic Games competition venues completed

Twenty-seven of the 37 Olympic competition venues are complete, according to Liu Jingmin, Beijing vice mayor and BOCOG executive vice-president.

Liu made the remarks at a press conference for the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Aside from the National Stadium, whose completion is scheduled for next March to accommodate modifications for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies that will be held there, the remaining venues that are still under construction will be complete by the end of the year.

Liu explained that the creative programme of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies has been confirmed, and the production work and rehearsals are under way.

At the press conference, Liu also gave an update on other preparation areas:

Ticketing: The ticket reservation and sales process is progressing smoothly. The first phase of domestic ticket sales for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has concluded and the second phase is to begin shortly in late October. Also, overseas Olympic ticket orders are in the process of being verified.

Olympic Volunteers: The number of applicants for the volunteer programs of the Beijing Olympic Games has exceeded 670,000. In order to ensure the quality of the voluntary volunteer services, BOCOG has recruited professional volunteers in ten areas, including linguistic services, media operations and competition organisation.

Paralympic Games: BOCOG has been preparing for the 2008 Paralympic Games parallel with the other preparations. Barrier-free facilities have been set up in the various venues. The Good Luck Beijing 2007 International Goalball Tournament from 13-16 September, demonstrated that the venues and services meet the standards required of the Paralympic Games.

Eco-environment: Beijing achieved “blue sky days” 66 percent of the year in 2006 - a 17.6 per cent improvement over 2000. Also Beijing’s public transport system continues to offer residents alternatives to driving, with the recent addition of subway Line 5. More options will come next year with the future Lines 10, the Olympic lateral line, and the airport extension.

Liu emphasised Beijing’s commitment to holding a “high level Olympics with distinctive features.”

BOCOG meets major goals on schedule

The Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) has fulfilled the major scheduled tasks in preparing for the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing Vice Mayor and BOCOG Executive Vice President, Liu Jingmin, said on Friday.

He made the remarks at a press conference at the media centre of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Out of the 37 venues to be used for the Olympics, he said, 27 have been completed, with the rest to be wound up by year-end, except for the National Stadium, whose schedule is related to the opening and closing ceremonies and is to be inaugurated next March.

The creative schemes for the opening and closing ceremonies have been settled, and they are already under implementation and rehearsal, he said.

The cities on the overseas route of the Olympic torch relay have responded positively to the program, and the first round of the liaison work is complete. Meanwhile, the selection of over 20,000 torchbearers for the domestic sector is being conducted across the country.

Referring to the Olympic marketing programme, Liu said the first phase of ticket sales has ended, and in the second half of this month, the second phase will be launched. The ticket orders from overseas are being processed.

He said 19 of the 26 Good Luck Beijing sport events for 2007 have been held, and they showed that the relevant venues and facilities could meet the requirements of the Olympics. He also said that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and international sports federations have given high marks on the organisation of the events.

Speaking about the volunteer programme, Liu said more than 670,000 people have registered as Games-time volunteers. BOCOG has also recruited specialized volunteers for services in VIP escort, translation, vehicle operation, media operations and sport organisation to ensure a quality volunteer programme.

As far as the preparations for the 2008 Paralympic Games are concerned, Liu said they are progressing concurrently with the Olympics, and the accessible venues and other facilities have been made available or are being built. The 2007 International Goal-ball tournament last month showed that Beijing is able to meet the requirements of the competitions in terms of the venue and services.