WBF President's Speech
José Damiani
WBF President
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Now that the 4th IOC Grand Prix is over,
it is again my pleasure to thank you all, the players, for
your participation. I hope you will go home feeling good and
bearing in mind what Pierre de Coubertin said - "The
important thing is not winning but taking part" and even
though many of you did not reach the final stage, I hope that
it was still a great tournament for you all.
It was, for us, a superb opportunity to
meet many members of the International Olympic Committee who
honoured us by visiting the Tournament. On behalf of the whole
Bridge Community I warmly thank all of them and hope that
from now on we will have an even more friendly relationship.
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For our own part, we have the impression that we have
once more done our duty towards you the players and towards the
National Bridge Federations. It is, of course, too early to reach
any conclusions but I can asure you that we will follow up very
carefully our destiny both inside and outside the Olympic movement.
I believe that this event, and therefore bridge, has
obtained tremendous press coverage, not only here in America, where
I think it hasn't happened for at least the past 20 years, but also
in many other countries, who have sent their television reporters
and journalists. As usual this has been achieved through the excellent
co-operation of our staff and colleagues
let us applaud them
for their sterling efforts
To Bruce Keidan, our Media Relations Liaison
Officer
To Paul Bernhardt, our Salt Lake City Liaison,
and his great team of volunteers - please, all of you, stand up
and wave so that we can see you and thank you.
The scoring was done by Harvey Fox, enabling
Mark Horton and Brent Manley to provide you with results
and reading material in the form of the Daily Bulletins. George
Georgopoulos ensured that all the information went up on the
Internet for the rest of the world to enjoy while our IT Manager
Mark Newton kept the computers and network running as well
as undertaking many hours of photocopying! Christine and
Anna worked tirelessly both before and during the event to
ensure your comfort.
E-Bridge has been providing the outside world with
VuGraph coverage, but here at the tournament our own Bridge Vision
Team of Elisabeth Antelme, Jean-Francois Chevalier
and Valentine Djian, with the Video team of Bernard Delange,
Paul Binisti and Bernadette Pasquier from Zoomescope
have ensured the smooth running of the excellent VuGraph presentation
enabling you to enjoy the entertaining commentary provided by Eric
Kokish and Barry Rigal.
The smooth running of a tournament is dependant on
many people, and in the playing rooms our Tournament Directors,
Bill Schoder and Claude Dadoun reign supreme, with
the entire event being staged under the watchful eye of our Operations
Director Ton Kooijman.
We thank you all - everyone who came here to help
us in whatever capacity - for your hard work and dedication.
It is the right time now to extend our congratulations
to the winners and medallists who deserve our applause for their
excellent performance. I look forward to seeing you around the world
somewhere very soon - and especially at our next World Championships
in Montreal. But for now, I wish you all a safe journey home
thank you all
ACBL President's Speech
On behalf of the American Contract Bridge League,
I wish to express our deep appreciation to the World Bridge
Federation for organising and conducting the 4th Grand
Prix Tournament here in Salt Lake City. This was an exceptional
occasion for the best bridge players from around the world
to compete just prior to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
In addition to thanking all the participants
here, a very special note of congratulation is due to the
teams reaching the final: France and USA in the Women's Teams,
Canada and Poland in the Men's Teams and the combined Americas
and Europe North in the Junior Event.
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George Retek
ACBL President
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The theme of the Olympic Games is "Light
the Fire Within". Our bridge players have shown with their
skill and determination at the Grand Prix that this Olympic motto
already exists in our sport.
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