Beijing, China: More than 1,000 mourners paid their respects to a great Chinese sports leader, Wu Shaozu, at his memorial service in Beijing. Wu, a former President of the Chinese Olympic Committee (1995-1999), passed away on September 18. He was 73. Wu is credited with transforming Chinese sport at the highest level through sports science and technology, identifying key sports for rapid improvement and enabling China to become a force at the Olympic Games, starting at Barcelona 1992.

He served as director of the National Sports Commission from 1988 and led the organising committee for the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing. In April 1999, Wu - along with Beijing Mayor Liu Qi – travelled to Lausanne, Switzerland, to submit the bid document for the 2008 Olympic Games to the International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Wu made a huge contribution to sports reform in China, bringing drastic changes to Chinese sport. During his 11 years in office from 1988 to 1999, Wu presided over a number of major sporting reforms, including professional football reform and structural reform.

He also proposed and implemented the Olympic Glorious Programme, the National Fitness Programme from grassroots level, the Sports Industry Development Plan and the first Sports Law of the People's Republic of China. He was also a leader in the fight against doping and promoted a series of regulations to prohibit drug use, leading former IOC President Samaranch to label him “the model of anti-doping.”