Brussels - Next year's Beijing Olympic Games should help to foster change in China, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge believes.
"I think that the Games will contribute to the evolution of China," Rogge told Belgian newspaper De Tijd at the weekend.
"The 20,000 journalists who come to the Games will show China as it is. It speaks for itself that that will accelerate the social evolution," the Belgian said.
China has promised to give foreign journalists unprecedented freedom in reporting China during the Olympic Games. Rogge said he would not be surprised if Beijing chose to extend these looser press rules.
Some 500 days before the Beijing Games begin, Rogge added that there were no budgetary problems.
Organizers of the 2012 London Games have faced criticism after the British government last month more than doubled the estimated cost of staging them to 9.3 billion pounds (US$18.21 billion).
Rogge said London had decided to regenerate a bigger area of east London than just the Olympic site and was building more apartments than were needed for the Olympic village.
"The nine billion pounds does not come from the Games alone. The operational budget is 2.2 billion pounds and has not changed since the award in 2005," he said.
Rogge's eight-year term in office comes to an end in 2009. He said he had not yet decided whether to seek an extension.
"That is a decision that I will take after the Beijing Games. There is then enough time to see if I will put myself forward as a candidate," he said.
罗格：奥运会帮助中国改变 2007-04-03 13:17:15 布鲁塞尔 - 国际奥林匹克委员会(IOC)主席罗格认为，明年的北京奥运会有助于促进中国改变。 "我认为奥运会会促进中国的演变," 罗格周末在比利时报De Tijd说。 "20，000名奥运会记者将会很好地展示中国。自不待言，这将会加快中国的社会演变 ,"该报说。 中国已经承诺在奥运会期间给外国记者前所未有的自由去报道中国。罗格说，北京放宽约束并不会让他感到惊讶。 离北京奥运会开幕大约还有500天，罗格说北京不存在预算问题。 2012年伦敦奥运会组委会在上月加倍了他们的预算到9.3亿英镑（18.21亿美元）后，已经遭到了英国政府的批评。 罗格说，伦敦已经决定大面积改造东伦敦奥运场地，并要在那里为奥运村建造更多的公寓。 "这9亿英镑并不全是为了奥运会。2005年制定的业务预算是2.2亿英镑，并没有改变," 他说。&<60; 罗格的8年任期将在2009年结束。 他说他尚未决定是否谋求连任。 "那时我在北京奥运会后将会考虑的问题。那时我会有足够的时间来决定是否参选 ," 他说
