But it was after Samaranch announced to the world that Beijing would be the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games that Rogge quietly took over the torch and became the new head of the International Olympic Committee. As the saying goes, when a new official takes office, Rogge's first fire is the "slimming" of the Olympic Games.
In the past 100 years, every Olympic Games has meant an increase in the number of people or events. By the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the Olympic family had made a complete circle. After this circle, the scale of the Olympic Games has changed from 1896 to 10500 athletes from 202 countries and regions, participating in 28 major events.
In 2005, the Olympic "Weight Loss Plan" was launched. Rogge led an Olympic expert group to make a detailed investigation and quantification of the scale of the Olympic Games. Softball, baseball and other old Olympic events have been swept away, and other events are constantly being adjusted or merged. Therefore, it is more difficult for a new event to join the Olympic Games.
Popularization, not up to standard.
Although in the words of abbot Shi Yongxin, Wushu is a single sport with the largest number of practitioners, reaching 70 million people around the world, to a large extent, these people are still concentrated in a few countries. In May this year, Osvalda, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee, said in an interview that the biggest obstacle for Wushu to enter the Olympic Games was its insufficient worldwide popularity.
He said: "Wushu is an inseparable part of China culture. The IOC is well aware of the importance of Wushu to China, but it has clear and strict standards for the Olympic Games. If a project wants to be listed as an Olympic project, the first prerequisite is that it must be widely carried out in at least 75 countries and regions. At present, although Wushu has developed very well in some areas, in most countries and regions, there are still too few people who know and practice Wushu. "
Martial arts are different.
In addition to the slimming and popularization of the Olympic Games, the nature and characteristics of Wushu itself are also a huge obstacle for Wushu to enter the Olympic Games. In the Olympic competition, achievements are tested by scientific quantitative standards, with corresponding physical quantitative instruments and explicit provisions. Athletes can achieve results through superhuman strength, speed or physical skills, but the quantitative standards of Wushu are different. Maybe we can grade Wushu routines by gymnastics or diving, but who can tell the difficulty between routines? And many martial arts practitioners specialize in a certain genre. If they want to fight for factions, they might as well read martial arts novels.
Ji Zeng, a professor at Zhengzhou University, once said that Wushu competition must accept the norms of Olympic competition methods if it wants to enter the Olympic Games. Therefore, we must base ourselves on compiling the Olympic Wushu which not only has the characteristics of China traditional Wushu, but also meets the requirements of Olympic events, and try our best to keep our own sports characteristics and show the traditional style of Wushu in another sports circle. But after all this, can the charm of China Wushu remain intact? You know, martial arts in China are colorful. If they are all unified Olympic Wushu, wouldn't it be against the original intention of promoting Wushu culture?