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Kim: Taekwondo for back-stabbers
SINGAPORE (AP) -- South Korean IOC member Kim Un-yong declared himself a nice man Friday, before reminding any potential back-stabbers he is still able to use martial arts to defend himself. Kim was speaking jokingly after reporters asked him about his relationship with fellow International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound of Canada. Both Kim and Pound recently lost the race for IOC presidency. Kim said he was "good friends" with Pound and there was no need to mend fences with the Canadian. "Sometimes we have different opinions," he said at a General Association of International Sports Federations meeting in Singapore. "Unless somebody stabs me in the back, I am a nice man. Don't forget, I am president of Taekwondo Federation." Taekwondo is an ancient martial art that originated in Korea, the 70-year-old said. Kim said he rarely practices the martial art these days because "I am old and always traveling." Kim, who is president of the General Association of International Sports Federations, said he still keeps fit and went to the gym at 7:00 a.m. before his meetings Thursday. Pound was soundly defeated in July's IOC presidential election, finishing third behind Rogge and Kim. A bitter Pound resigned as the IOC's marketing chief and television rights negotiator, and sent a letter to Olympic sponsors questioning the IOC's commitment to reform. Officials meeting in Singapore this week are focusing on ways to uphold the ideals of the Olympics amid increasing commercialism and materialism, Kim said. The officials agree that there are too many major sporting events overlapping, he said. The number of events -- like the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, Olympic Games, Afro Asian Games, Goodwill Games and Commonwealth Games -- has grown too large. "We all agree there are too many, now it's becoming a kind of enterprise," he told reporters. Kim said "Olympic ideals are universal," although the IOC is dominated by Europeans. "Well we try to be universal, but if you look at the composition of IOC members, 50 percent is European."
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