Chinese react to Olympic tell-all book

[steven johnson]

Here's a relatively mild account of behind the scenes Olympic politics. Not very racy but getting people in power in China upset.

Yuan Weimin was the toast of China's sporting scene from the early 1980s, when he coached the women's gold medal volleyball team, to 2001, when as head of the Chinese Olympic Committee, he helped bring home the biggest prize of all -- Beijing's selection as host city for the 2008 Summer Games. Now the 70-year-old retired cadre is being denounced by some as a liar and a traitor, accused of spilling state secrets and disrupting Chinese harmony.

The offense lies between the covers of his memoir, "Yuan Weimin: Winds and Clouds of the World of Sports," published this month in Beijing.

In the book, so far only available in Chinese, Yuan writes about a deal he says was cut during a cloak-and-dagger meeting in a Geneva hotel room eight years ago in which China promised to support the candidacy of Belgian Jacques Rogge as head of the International Olympic Committee in return for his support of Beijing's Olympic bid.

"This is the first time that somebody in the high ranks told the inside story of the Chinese sports world," said Xu Jicheng, a prominent basketball commentator who was deputy director of media operations for Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "I think he picked the right time. Since the Olympics, Chinese people are more confident and I think we are ready to listen with an open mind."


China calls foul over tell-all sports memoir