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Swimming finals set for morning
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-10-26 15:52 The swimming finals and much of the gymnastics at
the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be held in the morning, the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) said on Thursday in Beijing.
The competition schedule
for the Games had finally been agreed by the IOC's executive board "after a
thorough consultation process", IOC coordination commission chairman Hein
Verbruggen said at a news conference.
The team and all-round individual
events in the gymnastics are set for the morning, although the individual
apparatus events will be contested in evening sessions.
All the track
and field finals will take place in the evening with the customary exception of
the marathon.
The proposed morning shift for the swimming finals caused
uproar when the news was leaked earlier this year, with some swimmers accusing
the IOC of putting the interests of US broadcaster NBC before the needs of the
athletes.
"I would like to deny that we are doing the bidding of certain
broadcasters," Verbruggen said.
"It has always been like this, the
schedule is always the result of a thorough consultation process and what comes
out of this is a compromise. For example, in Seoul in 1988, many events were
held in the morning.
"The impression being given is that this is a
special case, this is not true."
BIG DRAW
Verbruggen also said the international federations responsible
for the sports, which run the events at Games, had agreed the schedules.
Morning finals in Beijing mean prime-time audiences in the US for NBC,
which paid $3.55 billion for the exclusive North American media rights to the
2000-2008 Games.
Swimming is a big draw for American audiences and the
U.S. team led by Michael Phelps, who won six gold medals in Athens in 2004,
enjoy a great rivalry with the Australian team.
An IOC spokeswoman said
the decision was only made after they had been convinced the physiology of
athletes would not be affected, and that they had thoroughly discussed the move
with their athletes commission.
Asked whether it was fair on Chinese
television viewers who may not be able to watch morning events because they
would be working, the IOC's Gilbert Felli said swimming was just one of many
sports at the Games
"We are not talking about the swimming world
championships, there will plenty of other competitions for the Chinese to watch
on television in the evening," he said.
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