Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said on Sunday that the martial art of wushu will not become an Olympic sport or an exhibition sport in the 2008 Beijing Games.

 

"We are not introducing wushu into the Olympic program. It will not be an exhibition. Not at all," said Rogge, who is on a visit of the Formula One race of the Chinese Grand Prix, his first time to watch a F1 race.

 

But to comfort the Chinese organizers, who have been trying hard in the past decade to persuade the IOC to accept wushu as an official Olympic event, Rogge said that there will be an international wushu competition organized by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG).

 

At the same time, Rogge, who came to China early this week to attend the opening ceremony of the 10th Chinese National Games held in Nanjing, pointed out that wushu will neither be an exhibition event nor an Olympic sport.

 

"There will be no demonstration or exhibition sport in the 2008 Olympic Games," he told Xinhua.

 

When asked if there is any possibility for wushu to become a medal event in future Olympic Games beyond 2012, Rogge said: "No one can predict the future. I am not going to make long-term prediction on the future. But today I can tell you that we have made decision about the 2012 Games. But after 2012, we have not made decision."

 

The IOC has capped the number of official events at 28.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2005)