FISU at 2008 AIPS Congress
April 24th, 2008
265 delegates from 95 countries and some 100 observers and guests participated at the 71st AIPS Congress in Beijing, China. Less than 80 days prior to the Olympic Games the Congress attracted the highest number of persons ever. As always in the past years FISU was also present at this congress. FISU Assessor Leonz Eder, also Chair of the FISU Press Commission, had a presentation about the FISU's Activity program. Tamara Kostro, Head of the PR Department of the Universiade 2009 in Belgrade, and Bill Lee and Owen Tan from the Universiade 2011 in Shenzhen, two important OC of future FISU events were present in Beijing and promoted their Universiades. At the Opening Ceremony of the Congress, Liu Jing Min, Vice Mayor of Beijing and Vice Executive President of BOCOG 2008, gave an overview over the preparations of the Beijing Olympic Games. Mr Liu was also one of the great leaders of the OC of the successful Univer-siade 2001 in Beijing. In his welcome address he considered the Congress to be a platform for changing ideas and for learning more about China. AIPS President Gianni Merlo not only praised sport as an instrument of peace, but also statet clearly that AIPS will always defend its independence. "Sport is not only a physical exercise, but part of our culture. That's why Sports journalism plays an important role to develop this culture, not only in China, but worldwide," Merlo said. The AIPS decided to spend USD 20'000 to the Chinese Red Cross in order to help the victims of the terrible earthquake which happened a few weeks ago in the Chinese Sichuan Province. The audience showed their solidarity with a minute of silence. The Delegates decided to host the next congresses in Milano, Italy (2009), Antalya, Turkey (2010) and prior to the Olympic Games in London, Great Britain (2012). The host of the Congress 2009 will be decided later. Candidate cities are Kinshasa (DR Congo), Macao and Mexico. As a new member of the Executive Committee the delegates elected Mr Mohamed Ab-dulla Al Malki (Qatar), the OC President of the AIPS Congress 2007. Among the different speakers were IOC member Kevan Gosper, Chairman of the IOC Press Commission, An-thony Edgar, Head of Olympic Games Media Operations, Lucia Montanarella, Director Press Operations of the Vancouver Olympic Games 2010, Christophe Berthoud, General Manager of Swiss Timing, Manuel Silverio, Chairman OCA Media Committee and Leonz Eder on be-half of FISU.
Gianni Merlo AIPS President
The FISU Group with Bill Lee and Owen Tan, Shenzhen 2011, Tamara Kostro, Belgrade 2009 and Leonz Eder
From left to right: Anthony Edgar, Head of Olympic Games Media Operations, Kevan Gosper, Chairman of the IOC Press Commission, Lucia Montanarella, Director Press Operations of the Vancouver Olympic Games 2010 and Leonz Eder
