The Athens Olympic Games debriefing opened in Beijing on Saturday, with future Olympic hosts and five bidding cities for the 2012 Games ready to learn from the experiences of their predecessor.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge said the debriefing is a useful "tool" for future Olympic hosts to draw on the experiences of previous games.

"We're going to learn what was good in Athens. We're going to reflect how to better organize the games. And the IOC is going to try to learn from the experiences, not only from Athens, but also from the previous games, so as to avoid any replication of errors," said Rogge.
 
The IOC initiated a program, dubbed as "Transfer of Knowledge", after the Sydney Olympics in 2000, which was aimed at offering future host cities know-how on staging the world's largest sporting event.

Rogge said having a tool was far from enough to learn lessons.

"Having a tool is not enough. One needs also to have an attitude... The attitude that transfers knowledge is humility. It needs humility for an organizing committee to know that they do not have the entire wisdom. Hence, they have to ask previous organizers for advice," said the IOC chief.

"It needs humility for the IOC to admit that it has made errors in the past that should not be repeated in the future. I can tell you that we have this humility," he added.

Over the following three days, the 25-member ATHOC delegation headed by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki will present a detailed account of the strategic choices made which contributed to the success of the Athens Games; the key areas of concern; and the conclusions drawn from the experience of the Games.

Liu Qi, President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics (BOCOG), said the debriefing offers the Chinese capital a great opportunity to learn from Athens.

"When the Athens Games drew to a successful close in August, it is the turn of Turin and Beijing. As the host of the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is ready to learn from all previous Olympic host cities, combine their experiences with the national conditions of China, and contribute to the Olympic Movement," said Liu.

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2004 )