Asia's rising but it needs to unite behind strong voice

On Sunday morning, most of Asia would have celebrated when Tokyo won the race to host the 2020 Olympics.

But it was also a day when the task of crowning a first Asian president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a tough ask to begin with, became near impossible.

The Japanese capital's win meant that Asia would be hosting three Olympic Games in the next seven years: the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games and the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

For some members of the IOC, electing an Asian president on the back of an Asian swing would be a case of too much Asia in too short a time.

The whispers started on Sunday morning in Buenos Aires, after Tokyo's win the night before. But as Tuesday's presidential election neared, the "too much Asian" momentum grew.

"I would say Tokyo's win was one factor," IOC member from New Zealand Barry Maister told The Straits Times. "After Nanjing, Pyeongchang and Tokyo, perhaps there was this thought of a move back to Europe."

It was a view shared by Dick Pound, a member from Canada.

He was a presidential candidate in the 2001 election, which saw Belgian Jacques Rogge become president.

He pointed to the small number of votes the Asian candidates received as evidence. In the first round of voting, both Singapore's Ng Ser Miang and Chinese Taipei's Wu Ching-kuo received just six votes each out of the 93 cast. Both finished last among the six candidates, although Ng won the tie-breaker to make it to round two.

In the second round, Ng managed only six votes to eventual winner German Thomas Bach's 49. Puerto Rico's Richard Carrion had 29, Switzerland's Denis Oswald, five, and Ukraine's Sergey Bubka got four.

In short, the two Asian candidates managed to get just 12 of the 93 votes cast. Coupled with the fact that there are 26 Asian IOC members, and one gets a picture of a less-than-united Asia.

"If you asked me before Tokyo, I'd say I would be very surprised about the Asian votes, especially Ser Miang's," said Pound.

"Bach, Carrion and Ng were very good candidates. But after Tokyo won, I think it affected the votes for Asia."

Asia did not do itself any favours either by having two candidates, which split the votes.

Said Tamas Ajan, an honorary member from Hungary: "There was no unity in the Asian votes, even after one was eliminated."

Yet while the "too much Asia" theory probably did have some bearing on the way the votes went - especially Ng's minimal return, given that he was expected to give Bach a good fight - the main deciding factor was still Bach himself.

And of course the support the German got.

Said Spain's Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, the son of the former IOC president: "We are not dumb. We know the difference between a race for the host city and a race for the president.

"Thomas won because his track record is clear, the result is clear. He is the president based on his own merit."

The IOC member from Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, insisted that Bach deserves the credit for a well-run campaign.

"Do not diminish Bach's capabilities," he said. "He was an athlete, a gold medallist, was in the IOC before me, was on the executive board and is the president of the biggest National Olympic Committee in Europe.

"He's been working for this position for a long, long time."

Sheikh Ahmad, dubbed by IOC watchers and the media as "kingmaker" for his open support of Bach, had been reprimanded by the IOC for violating a rule which prevented the public support of a presidential candidate.

When asked about his role in the outcome of the presidential race, he played down the talk about the degree of his influence.

"We know that when there is a campaign, there are stories, rumours," he said. "We understand these things, positive or negative. But, in the end, the result answers the questions as to what is going on."

Then he quipped: "I must thank the media for making me into a hero."

Bach's winning campaign slogan is Unity In Diversity.

But it will be hard to gloss over the fact that in the 119-year existence of the IOC, eight of its nine presidents have come from Europe, with only one from America, and that all of them are Caucasian males.

Rogge had long been identified - and groomed - as a future leader before he came to office in 2001. And so too Bach, with both winning the presidency easily.

The Olympic movement may be breaking new boundaries by introducing the Olympic Games to new regions. But much of it still smacks of an old boys' club.

Perhaps the man who might be able to change this is Sheikh Ahmad, who is well-placed in the Bach regime. Heck, he might even be the hero the IOC is looking for.

marclim@sph.com.sg

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