WBF President's Speech

José Damiani WBF President

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.

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.

George Retek ACBL President

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.