Rogge said that the Athens Games have been a major success in many areas like transport, security, broadcast ratings and competition organization.

Praising television coverage of the Games, Rogge said television producers were ecstatic about the ratings, which were up over 5 per cent on the Sydney Games, with an audience of four billion.

Rogge noted the "awakening of Asia", with the 31 gold medals of China, the success of Japan and other Asian nations in Athens.

On doping and the increased number of positive tests in Athens, the IOC President says even more testing is to be expected for Beijing in 2008.

(Photo Source: AP)