Speeches and Articles by Former Consul General Michael Klosson

Remarks by U.S. Consul General Michael Klosson to the Hong Kong Olympic Committee

January 16, 2002

(As prepared for delivery)

President Fok, Members of the Hong Kong Olympic Committee, and friends:

I'm honored to participate in today's ceremony and present the Hong Kong Olympic Committee with a flag as its team prepares to leave for the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. As many of you know, Utah is one of America's premier venues for winter sports

The U.S. has been an eager competitor in the Olympics since the start of the modern games in 1896, and a willing host as well - the Salt Lake City Games will be the eighth Olympic competition hosted by the U.S.

This year's competition will be the largest in Olympic history, with a total of 78 events in 15 disciplines and seven sports. There will be skiing, bobsledding, ice hockey, and figure skating, among other events. And I'm glad to see that Hong Kong itself will be competing in the winter games for the first time, in one of the most popular new winter events, short track speed skating.

To all sports-lovers in Hong Kong, let me extend this invitation: Join with visitors from around the world, go to Salt Lake City to support your Olympic team, and enjoy all the rest that the Games have to offer.

After the events of September 11, some people wondered if the Winter Games should or would be cancelled. The organizers and the U.S. Government have been working closely together around the clock to make sure this year's Games will be the safest and most secure ever. They will be user-friendly as well: no event will take place more than 60 miles from the city center, and US$1 billion has been invested in the highway system and a 15-mile light rail system to improve the local transportation facilities. New restaurants and fine hotels are waiting to welcome visitors from all over the world, and rooms, I'm told, are still available.

The Games will go on - and there will be more besides the sports competition. An impressive arts festival will maintain the Olympic tradition of combining the height of athletic attainment with the finest of world class artistic achievement. And if these cultural attractions aren't enough, beyond Salt Lake City there are a dozen fine ski resorts with light, dry powdery snow to tempt those who want to engage in winter sports themselves.

Hong Kong has fielded Olympic athletes before in summer Games, and won medals in windsurfing. The Salt Lake City games, however, will be the first opportunity for competitors from the Fragrant Harbor to go head to head with the best the rest of the world has to offer in a winter sport. Who would have expected it? Who would have even thought it was possible? I think it's simply great, and want to congratulate Ms. Christy Ren and Ms. Cordia Tsoi for their individual excellence in being selected to represent Hong Kong in the short track speed skating competition.

Time and again, in many fields of endeavor, I have seen people from Hong Kong exemplify the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius - swifter, higher, stronger. In sports, as in business, or finance, or whatever area of competition you might name, Hong Kongers have shown that they can match up with the best anywhere. The people of this international city have been noteworthy for their competitive spirit, their willingness to take up new challenges, their interest in breaking the mold and trying new ways of doing things. Asia's World City in this way, as in so many others, maintains its own distinct identity, not just in Asia but in the entire world.

Hong Kong people will continue to progress as long as they continue to look in two directions - inwards to their Chinese roots, and outwards to the international marketplace of ideas. Hong Kong is stable, and its people overall successful and prosperous, because of this distinctive identity. And the values we see and honor in Olympic competition - respect for the rules, equal opportunity to compete, clean play, and acknowledging other players' successes - are mirrored in what makes Hong Kong a model for both business and society -- the rule of law, a level playing field, a clean business environment, the free flow of information and respect for civil liberties. In both spheres, these are winning combinations.

These fine athletes thus exemplify in their own realm what I have referred to as Hong Kong's international personality. A Special Administrative Region of China, Hong Kong continues to build a distinguished record as an international entity in its own right - a member of the Olympic movement, a voice for liberalization in APEC and a force for free trade in the WTO.

Once again, I invite all of you to join with my fellow Americans and the rest of the Olympic family in Salt Lake City this February to "Light the Fire Within" for the 2002 Winter Games.

Thank you very much.

*     *     *     *     *