BUCHAREST (Romania), June 2: President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge said that the opening of China to the outside world after its devastating earthquake was “an indirect result of the Olympic Games” being in Beijing this year.

China had accepted much outside assistance and international aid in the wake of the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province that killed at least 69,000 people.

Rogge predicted that the Olympics in August could help bring more such openness and future democratic reforms to the country.

“You will see that the Olympic Games will change China,” he said in an interview broadcast late Saturday on Romanian national TV station TVR1.

He added that the Olympics could contribute to change in China because the media will attend and report freely. “This is something revolutionary for China,” he said.

Asked about a ban on participants expressing their views on China he said: “We ask the sportsmen not to make propaganda statements on the stadiums, or on the podium.”

This did not prevent them expressing their political views elsewhere, he added.

“If we allow any athlete to make political demonstrations on the stadium, the spirit of the Olympic Games will be lost,” Rogge said.—AP