Olympic games organisers are polished, professional but opaque

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — The organisers of the Beijing Olympics are nothing if not polished and professional, but they share with the country's leadership a tendency to be media shy and opaque.

"We still don't exactly know who runs what," said one foreign diplomat who has been building a "who's who" wall chart of members of the Beijing Olympic Organising committee (BOCOG) for more than a year.

One thing is clear -- China's President Hu Jintao takes a personal interest in the Games which he has earmarked as among China's top priorities for 2008.

And while BOCOG -- a mixture of career diplomats from the foreign ministry, bureaucrats from the Beijing city government, and administrators from the ministry-level General Administration of Sports of China -- is in charge of...