By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter

It is not completely certain that taekwondo will always be an official Olympic sport, according to Gunilla Lindberg, the secretary general of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), also an IOC vice president.


Gunilla Lindberg
IOC Vice President

``I think taekwondo is a good sport that fits the Olympic program and we have seen that it’s proved to be a good sport,’’ Lindberg told The Korea Times. However, she made it clear that it will be just one of many other sports to be tested in the upcoming IOC general assembly.

``When the IOC judges a sport, they give a technical evaluation of all the trends of sports. Each sport is evaluated in the same way. It is the sport itself that is judged and all the sports are the same in that regard,’’ she added.

Next month’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) general assembly to be held in Singapore draws some attention due to a particular schedule. For the first time, the IOC will have votes for each individual discipline of the sports festival, to decide if each sport is suited to keeping its status in the official program.

Any sport that fails to get a majority vote, will still remain an Olympic sport until 2012, and will then make room for other sports vying to be included.

The national sport of South Korea, taekwondo, has recently gone through some hard times with the resignation of former IOC vice president Kim Un-yong in the build-up to the international bribery scandal. Even though it has been recognized a favored sport worldwide, no one can comfortably expect it will continue to keep its current position.

In the current Olympic Charter, the number of sports on the program is fixed between 15 and 28. Competition is inevitable among sports-governing organizations hoping for a spot in the sports event.

Lindberg refused to provide her view Kim, saying: ``I don’t think I came here to comment on him,’’ she said. ``I came here as ANOC secretary general to prepare its meeting. My visit here has nothing to do with the IOC.’’

The Swedish official was in Seoul preparing for the next ANOC general assembly scheduled here from March 31 – April 7, 2006. ANOC is the umbrella organization of the IOC, formed with 203 countries as its members.

Lindberg hinted there will be many more changes in the Olympic program according to the management of the IOC by its president Jacque Rogge, who is well known for focusing on ``cleanness.’’

``I can say that when he became president of the IOC, he was very clear in what he wanted to do for the IOC’s future,’’ she noted. ``He is strict and has quite a clear focus on fair play, no tolerance (to corruption, doping, etc), and how to foster the image of the Olympics movement.’’

To Lindberg, this special procedure is an effective means of revoking competition among sports to attract more fans and popularity. ``I don’t think there will be any possible ‘victims’ of the vote, if the procedures of the technical bodies that have been engaged in all the Olympic sports are transparent and well-received by the IOC,’’ she said.

``And I believe the (vote) procedure has an effect that makes many sports looking over its own role and how to make their sports popular and furthermore universal. The whole procedure means a lot to the Olympic programs.’’

Upon being questioned on the actual possibility of real changes, Lindberg predicted there will be more changes possibly in the future for the purpose of getting on a par with current trend of sports. ``That’s why it will be looked at in each edition of the Games if they are suitable to be an Olympic program or not. We will constantly review all the programs every four years,’’ she said.

The growing commercialism of the Olympics has been one of the biggest issues for controversy on the event, but Lindberg said it isn’t something that can be separated from the true Olympic spirit, focusing on a practical point of view.

``No event today can take place without sponsors, and the sponsors are a very important part of the Olympic family,’’ she said.

``But we also need to control what sponsors can do. Talking about the athletes, many of them are professionals, and I think it’s good to let more professional athletes compete at the Olympic Games because they want to have the best athletes. I don’t see any conflict between that and the Olympic spirit.’’

She also sent a warm message to the South Korean sports players, especially female ones. ``South Korea has some wonderful athletes in sports like archery and short track, and its female athletes are especially making a fast progress. I hope to see more women competing in the global sports scene,’’ said Lindberg, the second female IOC vice president in the history of the organization.