Apart from the Chinese, the person with the most riding on there being a successful and trouble-free Olympic Games is International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge.

The 65-year-old Belgian's fortunes have been inextricably linked with Beijing ever since both were elected at the same IOC session in Moscow in 2001 and the orthopaedic surgeon will not want to see his final year in charge destroyed by criticism over the Games.

The mild-mannered former yachtsman - a three-time Olympian - couldn't be a more contrasting character to his predecessor, Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose wily and cunning characteristics had been honed whilst an ambassador under the regime of dictator General Francisco Franco.

However, former Belgian rugby international Rogge has displayed great tenacity during his spell in charge - which ends in Copenhagen in October 2009 - and has more often than not come out on top.

His most notable achievement was persuading IOC members last year to back the creation of a Youth Games, which will be hosted by Singapore for its inaugural edition in 2010.

He did suffer defeat at the same congress in Guatemala where his wish for Pyeongchang to become the host of the 2014 Winter Olympics - though he did not publicly express it as in theory the president remains above the fray - was narrowly defeated as the Russian candidate Sochi took the prize.

On the personal front, Rogge has shown a more common touch than Samaranch - who nevertheless was responsible for commercialising the Games and turning it into, for better or worse, what it is today.

Rogge's decision to stay in the athletes' village during the first Olympics he was in charge of, the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, would never have been countenanced by Samaranch.

He has also rejected the suggestion that candidate cities wanting to host the Games need only apply if they had bottomless pockets and large populations, citing Lillehammer in 1994 and Athens in 2004 as examples of bids won by more modest venues.

However, the lead-up to these Games have shown he may not have such a steady hand on the tiller.

His repeated insistence the Games would be good for the development of China in terms of human rights looked to be questionable at best when it emerged Chinese authorities had blocked the access of reporters in the Olympic press centre to certain internet sites.

But a defiant Rogge, who insisted no deal had been done with the Chinese over internet access, said: "I am not going to make an apology for something that the IOC is not responsible for. We are not running the internet in China."

Rogge possesses a wry sense of humour and he may well need it in the weeks to come.

In common with many athletics administrators, he is obsessed with leaving a legacy. However, for all his success in creating the Youth Games, the way in which the Beijing Olympics are perceived could go a long way to determining his reputation.

Whatever happens, after years in the spotlight, Rogge may decide he'd rather be facing rough winds of another kind and return to his first love of sailing.