Press encounter following tour of Olympic Village, Salt Lake City

SG: I think it an extremely organized game. I think you should know that for Nane and myself this is our first Olympics so we have been extremely impressed by what we have seen and the way it's been organized. Every one here has been very, very friendly. And to see all these countries come together, at time in the world we are talking of divisions, putting those divisions behind them and cooperating and participating for the fun for games and the sake of the games. Yes, so may win but others may have their personal best in challenging themselves. So really it is competition with the individual seeing how far he or she can go.

So we are extremely happy to be here. For a rookie Olympian, I could not have asked for anything better.

Q: As a Swiss I have to ask you, when Mr. Ogi [The Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace] started his work he said that sports could make the world a better place, but now we see that it needs army and police to protect the sport. What has gone wrong?

SG: I hope this is a temporary phase. What you've seen here and the fact that one needs security does not take anything away from the statement that Mr. Ogi made, but it does mean that we need to work harder to bring people together, to bring peace to bring development, to resolve conflict so that we can live in harmony and the amount of resources that we use for security can be used for other purposes when we get to that stage.

Q: What did you think of the opening ceremonies?

SG: We were at the opening ceremonies. [inaudible]. We were very moved to see that many people, to see all the athletes parade. For a tropical child I was worried about them, thinking they must be cold, but they told me they were not and I need not have worried about them. It was a very moving evening.

Q: This morning the Dutch government said it would give 5 million Euros to Olympic aid.

SG: That was a very generous contribution to a worthwhile cause. Olympic Aid is a very dynamic organization that is working very closely with the Olympic Committee and will also work very closely with UN agencies - World Health Organization, UNICEF, UN High Commissioner for Refugees - for us to really get children involved in sports as a tool to bring communities and different ethnic groups together. It's better to get them to play than to fight. *****