Published : 13/07/2025
On July 13, 2001, the 112th plenary session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was held in Moscow, Russia, where all the committee members voted to elect Beijing, China, as the host city for the 29th Olympic Games. The "Olympic Dream" of several generations of Chinese sportspeople finally came true on this day.
At the meeting that day, the IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch first delivered a brief speech, followed by the swearing-in of the newly elected IOC members.
After the oath, following the presentations by the Osaka, Japan; Paris, France; and Toronto, Canada bid teams, the Beijing bid team solemnly stepped onto the podium at 7 p.m.
He Zhenliang (何振梁), the then Honorary President of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) introduced the members of the delegation in fluent French.
Subsequently, Li Lanqing (李嵐清), then member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, first made the presentation on behalf of the Chinese government.
He emphasised the Chinese government's firm support for Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympics, and praised the evaluation report of the IOC evaluation team. Over the past half-century, thanks to the nationwide fitness campaign and other factors, the health level of the Chinese people had greatly improved, said Li.
Li Lanqing promised that if there was a surplus from the 2008 Olympics, China would establish an Olympic Friendship Foundation to help the development of sports in developing countries; if there was a deficit, the Chinese government would bear it.
Following this, then-President of the COC Yuan Weimin (袁偉民), Mayor of Beijing Liu Qi (劉淇), and Sports Director of the Beijing Bid Committee Lou Dapeng (樓大鵬), took the stage one after another.
Beijing's bid ambassadors Deng Yaping (鄧亞萍), Yang Lan (楊瀾), and Sydney Olympics shooting champion Yang Ling (楊凌) also made emotionally charged presentations for the bid.
After the Beijing presentation, IOC members had nearly 10 minutes of questioning for the delegation, raising a total of 11 questions from eight members on issues such as pollution control, competition venues, language communication, anti-doping, transportation, and surplus allocation.
After the Beijing delegation answered all the questions, it was the turn of the last candidate city, Istanbul, Turkey, to make their presentation.
After two rounds of voting, Samaranch solemnly announced upon opening the envelope that Beijing would be the host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Upon hearing this, the venue erupted in excitement, and the members of the Chinese bid team hugged each other in ecstatic joy.
In this vote, in the first round (where 52 votes were needed to win the hosting rights), Beijing received 44 votes, Toronto 20 votes, Istanbul 17 votes, Paris 15 votes, and Osaka 6 votes (eliminated).
In the second round (where 52 votes were needed to win the hosting rights), Beijing received 56 votes, Toronto 22 votes, Paris 18 votes, and Istanbul 9 votes.