117th IOC Session: Information from Answers.com

Tight security was highly visible during the 117th IOC Session. A police officer stood watch on the fourth floor of the Raffles City complex where the session was taking place.

The 117th International Olympic Committee Session was held for the first time in Singapore from 2 July to 9 July 2005. The meeting was particularly significant as two important decisions were made through voting during the session - namely the selection of the hosting city for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and a review of the 28 sports currently represented in the summer games.

The session was held at the Raffles City Convention Centre, which is on level 4 of the Raffles City complex. The opening ceremony on 5 July 2005 was held at the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay.

1 Proceedings
2 World's Impression of Singapore
3 Media Confusion
4 Olympic Anthem criticism
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Proceedings

Banner of the 117th IOC Session outside the venue at Raffles City

Official car sponsored by Mercedes-Benz

1 July 2005

An exhibition was launched at the podium of the Raffles City Shopping Complex, that would continue until 10 July.

2 July 2005

The IOC Session commenced.

3 July 2005

The session proper started with a meeting of the IOC's Executive Board.

4 July 2005

The Executive Board meetings resumed with updates on the progress of preparations for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver by their respective representatives. The board was informed that Beijing had decided to hold the equestrian events in Hong Kong, as the territory is a disease free zone.

5 July 2005

The opening ceremony was held at the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay and the guest of honour was the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, who officially opened the session. A special type of hybrid orchid had been bred to commemorate the IOC Session in Singapore. It was named Vanda IOC. A cultural performance of dance and songs was held with the theme of "One Voice, One Rhythm, One World".

6 July 2005

Further information: Bids for the 2012 Summer Olympics

Each of the five bid cities had 45 minutes to make a final presentation to the IOC members, after which voting commenced and the final results were announcenced at 19:30 Singapore time. London emerged as the winner. Local sailor Griselda Khng handed an envelope to IOC president Jacques Rogge holding the result of the vote.

7 July 2005

The final evaluation report of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was presented and the Athens Games were finally closed.

8 July 2005

The existing 28 sports in the Summer Olympics programme came under scrutiny, three years after a similar attempt failed to gain support from IOC members during the 114th IOC Session in Mexico City.^[1] Prior to the votes, baseball, softball, modern pentathlon, taekwondo and fencing were considered as most likely to be dropped. Five other sports were vying to get in: golf, roller sports, squash, rugby sevens and karate. Jacques Rogge, president of the IOC, had been supportive of this move, while the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) were opposed to it.

In the morning IOC members voted to remove baseball and softball from the games (voting was by simple majority), while modern pentathlon gained a surprise reprieve.^[1] Some nations expressed dismay with the result, in particular the United States where both sports originated from, and Japan, where both have a strong following.

In the afternoon, a secret vote by IOC members gave squash and karate over 51% of votes, but the addition of a sport mandates an amendment to the Olympic Charter, and such an amendment requires a two-thirds majority. Since neither sport achieved that proportion of the votes, no new sports were added and the Olympic Games, which now consists of 26 sports.^[1]

That night at The Oriental Singapore, then SNOC president and defence minister, Teo Chee Hean threw a banquet. Rogge gave Singapore full marks for the session organisation, a perfect 6.

9 July 2005

Singapore's IOC member, Ng Ser Miang had vied for a spot in the IOC Executive Board to replace Greek Lambis Nikolaou, whose term ended on this day. Ng Ser Miang was shortlisted together with Ivan Dibos from Peru. Ng Ser Miang was elected to the Board, and two vice presidents were also elected: Lambis Nikolaou and Chiharu Igaya, an IOC member from Japan.

World's Impression of Singapore

A Canadian television report said that the session had placed the country in the centre of the sporting universe and that the spotlight was on six cities, not just the five candidate cities.

The media said that most visitors' first taste of Singapore was an annoying ding-dong alert sound produced in a taxi when it exceeds the speed limit. The speaking of the slang Singlish was highlighted, together with the country's chewing gum laws.

References were made to Singapore's lush greenery, the tough drug laws, the rare traffic jams and the tight security checks. The British daily, The Guardian wrote on the terrorism spectre that stalks the Games, noting that "Even here in Singapore, during the meeting of the 116 members, security has at times been stifling. Access to the Swissôtel, where the members are staying , has been severely restricted and squadrons of Gurkhas armed with hand- and machine-guns patrol inside and outside the hotel."

Media Confusion

There was some kind of confusion by the foreign newspapers mixing up the high end Raffles Hotel with the Raffles City. Reuters wrote "It is a national monument, the jewel in Singapore's crown, and this week, Raffles Hotel will becoming a bubbling cauldron of lobbying and politics as it stages the most keenly-contested Olympic venue vote in the history of the Games. Its Colonial style salons and parlours will be overrun by bid officials and consultants, celebrities and spin-doctors." Later, it clarified that the vote was actually at the adjacent Raffles City Convention Centre and not the hotel.

British paper, The Guardian, in a report on the London team isolating themselves on Sentosa wrote, "They have deliberately retreated from the hothouse atmosphere of the Raffles Hotel complex, the venue for the IOC congress, to perfect a final pitch they believe will be crucial in gathering the votes London requires to win."

The Weekend Australian reported, "First order of the business that day at Raffles Hotel will be determining whether any changes are to be made to the Olympic programme......" The Bangkok Post said, "Members of the International Olympic Committee from around the globe will meet 6 July-9 July at the historic Raffles Hotel to pick the hosts of the 2012 Games of the Olympiad."

Olympic Anthem criticism

The trio who sung the Olympic Anthem in Greek was criticised by both the media and the audience. They were Singaporean soprano Khor Ai Ming, Singaporean tenor William Lim and Japanese soprano Satsuki Nagatome. The trio sung with gusto just before the announcement of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The feedback on their pre-recorded performance was not music to the ears. The Guardian reported on their operatic rendition "Two Singaporean sopranos and a tenor dressed like a maître d' subjected the Olympic anthem, a tune whose primary virtue is to be heard only once every four years, to a fearful mauling."^[2] The Times of the UK described them as "three Orientals... one distinctly off key".^[3]