Olympic enemies: Betting and obesity

The London Games will be the last ones with Jacques Rogge as president of the International Olympic Committee. RT talked to the Belgian official about the challenges his successor will face and the prospects for the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

Rogge says the biggest long-term problem world sports face in general is the trend for young people to become less sporty with every year.“There is lack of movement in many young kids. They are in front of TV screen with a PC or a video game or an iPad or television. In many countries the kids sit too much and are not moving. And this leads to obesity and other diseases like diabetes. We have to keep the kids moving, and that is also my responsibility and that of my successor,” he told RT.On a professional level Rogge marks doping and illegal betting as the two plagues of modern sport. The latter is becoming an increasingly prevalent problem with the development of internet and other means of communication.“We can do a lot – and that’s what we are doing – by monitoring the betting online. When we see an abnormal profile of betting for a particular match, then we can start an inquiry. We do this with governments, because we need the support of government to crackdown this cheating,” he said.The outgoing IOC president also elaborated on the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, which he says will have a unique identity thanks to the choice of the location.“It will represent the winter aspect of your climate and your country. Russia has been identified with snow and ice and winter. Even in your history winter has played a major role in conflicts and wars. Sochi will also be a unique combination of beautiful Black Sea and the mountains. You don’t [often] have that close vicinity of very high mountains with perpetual snow and the sea with beaches,” he said.