IMPRESSED: Jacques Rogge attended the centenary celebrations for the New Zealand Olympic Committee at College Rifles, Auckland this week and had special praise for the World Cup.

On a Thursday morning in a nondescript conference room at a fancy hotel in Auckland, Jacques Rogge – arguably the most powerful man in world sport – sits upright in a leather chair and shows no sign of the fatigue he must be feeling.

The president of the IOC resides in Switzerland but has made his journey to New Zealand by way of the United States, Guadalajara for the Pan American Games, and Sydney.

He touched down on the ground on Wednesday then patiently churned his way through a handful of exhausting – and repetitive – media interviews the following morning.

Meetings with other VIPs in the world of sport were pencilled in for later in the week before he, like thousands of others, makes his way to Eden Park tonight to watch the Rugby World Cup final.

It's the sort of schedule that would leave anyone feeling just that bit knackered, but the president appears to be built of tougher stuff.

That might have something to do with the fact he's used to it, given he's been in the job he describes as "the nicest in the world" for more than a decade.

As a rugby fan, Rogge, who played for the Belgian national team, has followed the Rugby World Cup from all corners of the globe, even to the point of rising long before the sun to catch the crucial games on television.

He thinks we've done a good job in hosting the whole shebang and uses a very Olympic word in suggesting the "legacy" of staging the tournament in our own backyard will be long-lasting.

It's only natural, then, that Rogge is also as excited as anyone about the fact that rugby sevens will join the Olympic programme in 2016. He believes the introduction of rugby to the biggest sporting stage of all will take union to a whole new level and see nations other than just our own become world-beaters.

"The IOC has been watching for quite a long time the evolution of rugby," Rogge says.

"We thought it was time to include it in the Olympic programme and we believe that rugby sevens is a spectacular form of the sport.

"It's also a code that is practised by many, many countries whereas 15-a-side rugby, maybe eight to 10 countries could win the world cup. You can double that easily with rugby sevens."

As a former athlete himself – he sailed in three Olympics and competed against Kiwis on the world stage – Rogge knows a thing or two about New Zealand's sporting history, some of it first-hand.

He knows about the mana of the black singlet. He knows the stories of Lovelock, Snell, Walker, Loader and Adams.

And he thinks our Olympic heroes have done – to paraphrase rather loosely here in Kiwi-speak – a bloody good job against bigger and far more resourced competitors.

"I can definitely say that New Zealand has been boxing above its weight," Rogge says.

"You are a small population, far away from the main centres of sport, but you have a great spirit here.

"You have great organisation, you have a love of sport and you have won more than 90 medals.

"I think it comes down to some basic principles.

"First of all, you need a healthy youth and your youth is a healthy one.

"Secondly, you need a level of support at all layers of population and you have this also in your country.

"You need a good organisation and you are very organised.

"But foremost, you need special character. You need to have a fighting spirit and I believe that New Zealanders have a fighting spirit in the good sense of the world."

For Rogge, this is likely to be his last journey to New Zealand as the president of the IOC.

In 2013, he will step down – 12 years after taking the reins of the giant sporting organisation.

He's not sentimental about the ticking clock nor, for that matter, is he "a legacy man". But when the historians look back on the presidency of the Belgian sailor, he hopes they will remember that his "team" oversaw spectacular Olympic events, fought hard against the scourge of doping in sport, and made special efforts to ensure young people were given opportunities to compete.

"The International Olympic Committee is a very strong team and we have made sure that the Olympic Games in the new millennium have been of a very high quality," he says.

"This is something that I focused on and we created the Youth Olympic Games, which is going to develop into a fantastic asset for the Olympic movement because it provides not only competition but also education and culture to the young athletes.

"We have fought very hard on doping, illegal betting and match fixing and I think we've secured a good financial basis for sport.

"We have increased the financial resources of the IOC six times and ultimately we have invested a lot into bridging the gap between developing countries and developed countries."

The fight against doping and corruption in sport has been something of a crusade for Rogge, whose organisation has a "zero tolerance policy" towards both issues.

"Doping, you know, destroys the credibility of sport. Doping is dangerous for the health and if we don't take care and don't fight against doping, it's the recruitment of sport that will dry up," he says.

"Parents will not want to have their kids playing at sports clubs any more if they know that they are not going to be protected.

"It's a major scourge and the same goes for match-fixing and illegal gambling.

"Right there again, the credibility of sport is attacked."

The credibility of Olympic sport, some would argue, is currently under threat after a recent decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport found an IOC rule that banned any athlete who had served a doping suspension of six months or more from competing in the following Olympic Games, was "invalid and unenforceable".

The US Olympic Committee brought the case to CAS on behalf of LaShawn Merritt, an Olympic 400m champion, on the grounds that the rule – known as Article 45 – was double jeopardy.

Rogge concedes he's "a little disappointed" with the decision that will allow scores of affected American athletes to now compete in London.

But as an adroit politician he's not about to say anything that could be perceived as unflattering about the Court of Arbitration for Sport. "It [Article 45] has been declared invalid and we are a bit disappointed because we believed it was a very strong measure to protect the clean athletes," he says.

"The Court of Arbitration decided that it could not be applicable but what we are going to do is to look at another wording of the rule [after London] to make sure that the spirit of the rule is being kept."

But surely, for a man who is absolutely against doping, that athletes who have failed drugs tests will now line up on the track or plunge into the pool in London, it must be a bitter, if you'll excuse the pun, pill to swallow?

"They are entitled to participate since the ruling of the Court of Arbitration and I will respect that," Rogge says.

"The athletes will be able to compete at the Games without restriction."

When he steps down in 2013 and the baton is passed to his successor, Rogge will focus on being "a good grandfather".

But you get the feeling that for a man who was named No67 this year on Forbes Magazine's most powerful people in the world list, he will never completely fade from the public spotlight.

Rogge also knows that despite his best efforts, the world of top-level sport will remain a murky place.

There will still be drug cheats, corrupt officials and match-fixers long after he's gone.

The fight will never be won.

But when he looks back on his time in charge of the IOC, Rogge hopes, quite simply, that his organisation has done its best to make life hard for the bad guys.

"Is there in this world any fight being won?" he says.

"Is the fight against poverty being won? Is the fight for peace being won? Is the fight for doping ever going to stop because there will be no doping? No.

"Let's not be naive. There will always be doping. There will always be match-fixing. But we have to reduce it to the lowest possible level.

"We don't have to be naive. We don't have to be afraid to admit that, yes, there are negative points in the practice of sport."

But as for the good aspects of sport, the president highlights, they will also remain.

"Sport is a reflection of society," Rogge adds, pointing out that sport is also about education. Sport is about values and sport is about being a responsible citizen in society.

"We reflect society. We reflect the bad side of society – violence, doping, drug abuse.

"But we also reflect the fantastic, beautiful things about society – education and equality."