International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. Photo: Chen Xia/GT

The just-ended Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai deserved a full remark, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach told the Global Times on Sunday, the last day of the event.

The IOC was very happy and satisfied with the extraordinary organization of the OQS in Shanghai, said Bach. “[I rated it] 10 out of 10. There can be no doubt about it,” he said at a group interview of the OQS on Sunday evening, responding to a question raised by the Global Times reporter that asked about his comment on the event.

Kicking off on May 16, the four-day OQS was held at Shanghai’s iconic Huangpu riverside, gathering 464 top global athletes in BMX freestyle, breaking, skateboarding, and sport climbing. They vied for over 150 quota places of the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

It was the first-ever OQS event to serve as an ultimate qualification stage for the four sports for Paris 2024. Choosing China and its Shanghai as the host of the OQS’ world debut was not a coincidence, said Bach, praising China as “a very reliable organizer.”

And Shanghai is a place of innovation and openness, and people in the city is quite passionate about sports, Bach added. “China and Shanghai have once more set the benchmark for the organization of Olympic events and peak sports events,” he noted.

A total of 28 Chinese athletes competed at the OQS in Shanghai. Team China swept the podium in the cycling BMX freestyle women’s park final and won medals in several sports, including speed climbing. 

Bach, who said he watched the women’s BMX freestyle event at the scene, spoke highly of the excellent performance of the Chinese athletes.

“Some five years ago, there were hardly any Chinese athletes represented in these new sports,” he recalled. “Now within these few years, you see a number of athletes whose performances here are establishing themselves not only as participants but also potential medal winners. It’s [an] amazing development in China.”

The four OQS sports are regarded as dynamic fashionable street sports that are popular particularly among young people. In Shanghai, the athletes were evenly divided between men and women, according to the organizer.

As a key project under Olympic Agenda 2020+5, Bach said the OQS is the result of the Olympic agenda reforms, which are promoting sports to be more urban, youthful, inclusive and sustainable, and representing gender equality. 

“[Attracting young and urban audiences] is exactly the purpose to take these new sports in to the Olympic program,” he said. “We can see that it works; the younger generation is enjoying this new Olympic experience.”

The OQS employs a points system designed to determine which athletes will secure quotas. Athletes in the four sports got the OQS points by competing at the Shanghai stop over the weekend, and later at a Budapest stop in June.

According to the organizer, athletes in BMX freestyle, sport climbing, and breaking will compete for a maximum of 50 points at each of the events in Shanghai and Budapest. For skateboarding, the points system is divided into three parts: results from prior competitions and the results from the Shanghai and Budapest OQS events.