Here's a snap of me addressing, or should that be looming over, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), as part of my trip to see the impressive 15th Asian Games in Doha, today. The Games are governed by the OCA and modelled on the Olympic Games, so the trip h
The Olympic Family, including IOC president Jacques Rogge, was on hand to lend support. I caught up with Gilbert Felli and Denis Oswald and updated the OCA on London’s progress (see picture, above). There is a lot of enthusiasm among the international community for the London Games and our plan to assist national Olympic teams, especially those from smaller countries, to use pre-Games training camps in the United Kingdom were also very well received.
I was also given a tour of Al Jazeera’s Sports Channel’s HQ. I met Leila Smati, one of the region's pioneering and award winning female sports reporters, who is an example of how sport can change people's lives on and off the sporting field.
Following the release earlier in the week of our plans for our Aquatics Centre, I was keen to see the recently redeveloped Hamad Aquatic Centre situated in Doha's Sport City complex of venues so I finished the day at the evening session of the swimming.
China repeatedly touched the wall ahead of its rivals giving Olympic officials and sports fans much to cheer about back in China with the Beijing 2008 Games rapidly approaching.
The timing of this visit was perfect for other reasons too, surrounded as I was by many Australian major events experts as news of Collingwood's big knock in the second Test in Adelaide came through to us in Doha and the storm clouds from the Opening Ceremony started to clear ...
