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KUWAIT: Asian sport has taken giant strides and the
Beijing Olympics will be a watershed for the region as it moves down
the path to superpower status, the head of the Olympic Council of
Asia (OCA) believes.
China is driving the rapid
improvements in Asia’s sporting prowess and hauling the rest of
the region up with it, he says.
“From the Barcelona Olympics in
1992 to Athens in 2004 we have found there are a lot more champions
from Asia,” Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who has been president
of the OCA since 1991, told AFP in an interview.
“China is now second behind the
United States in the medal stakes and Japan and Korea are up there.
“In 2004 there were almost 30 National Olympic Councils from Asia
that won medals.
This is a very encouraging
development. “I think in Beijing in 2008 Asia will jump from its
current situation to an advanced stage where an Asian nation may
well top the medal table.”
That nation will be China, which
is pulling out all the stops to excel on home territory next year,
with the ultimate goal being to topple the United States. The fact
that China is so dominant in Asia is not a hindrance to other
regional countries.
Rather, it motivates them, said
Sheikh Ahmad. “Everyone knows that China is a sporting superpower.
Always they have around 30 percent of the Asian Games gold medals
but I think this is good because it encourages all the other nations
and athletes to develop to this level,” he said.
“When they do this, we will
find many more Asian countries at the top. We have many, many
prospects. Sometimes, psychologically, it is very difficult to beat
the US athletes but if Asian countries see China doing it, it will
encourage them. It can only help to upgrade our level.”
When Sheikh Ahmad, a former army
officer and Kuwaiti energy minister, took over at the OCA, it was a
shadow of what it is today but he learnt lessons from former
International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch.
The 44-year-old, born in Beirut,
attributes the professionalism of the Olympic movement to the aging
Spaniard. “Since 1991 when I first took over, the nature of sports
has changed, mostly through the work of former IOC president Juan
Antonio Samaranch who helped change the nature of the Games to be
more professional,” he said.
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