Olympic Times – Sports Daily

U.S. pentathletes are set to begin the 2008 World Cup Season and final push to the Beijing Olympic Games with first stop in Cairo, Egypt, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) announced on Tuesday.
Seven U.S. pentathletes will compete in the first World Cup stop of the 2008 Modern Pentathlon season on February 20-23 in Cairo, Egypt with the goal of earning valuable ranking points in hopes of qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the USOC said in a statement.
The women’s semifinal will be held on Wednesday, February 20 with the men’s semifinal set for Thursday, February 21. The women’s final will be on Friday, February 22 and the men’s on Saturday February 23.
The remaining five World Cup stops during the Olympic qualification period will be critical to determining the athletes that will make up the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team for Modern Pentathlon.
The 2008 World Modern Pentathlon Championships, May 27-31 in Budapest, Hungary, will serve as a direct Olympic qualifier for the top three finishers who have not already qualified their spot for the Olympic Games.
The final and most likely way for the U.S. to qualify for a final Olympic slot will be through the Modern Pentathlon World Rankings for the Olympic qualification period of June 1, 2007 – June 1, 2008.
This final means of qualification will go to the top seven ranked athletes that have not already qualified by some other means.
Each country can only qualify a maximum of two men and two women. If the U.S. has more than two men or two women that meet the qualification criteria, USA Pentathlon will determine the two Olympic representatives based on the two highest ranked U.S. athletes in the World Cup standings.
The top four U.S. women will all compete in World Cup #1 in Cairo. Michelle “Mickey” Kelly has already qualified a spot for the 2008 Olympic Games by virtue of her performance at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and will look to use the World Cup season to keep her ahead in the pack. Sheila Taormina, Emily Shertzer and Margaux Isaksen will be joining Kelly.
On the men’s side, the U.S. will be represented in Cairo by Niul Manske, Sam Sacksen and Will Brady. Top ranked U.S. pentathletes Eli Bremer and Dennis Bowsher will sit out the first World Cup stop, deciding to focus their energies on preparing for the second World Cup stop of the season in Mexico City, Mexico, March 5-8.
Bremer has already qualified his spot for the 2008 Olympic Games based on his gold medal performance at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bowsher is in line to qualify through the World Ranking system, but must keep himself in that position.

from: xinhuanet.com 

As a three-time world singles champion and the most titled table tennis player on the Chinese men’s team, Wang Liqin isn’t good enough for an automatic ticket to the 2008 Olympic Games.
The 2001, 2005 and 2007 world singles champion will first prove his worth in the world team championships which opens in Guangzhou on Saturday and then fight in an Asian Olympic qualifier in Hong Kong in early March.
“My top priority is to help the Chinese team defend the world team title,” said Wang after a training session on Wednesday, declining to comment on his Olympic dilemma.
Wang Hao, a losing finalist to South Koran Ryu Seung Min in the2004 Olympics, and Ma Lin, twice world runner-up to Wang Liqin, have secured China’s automatic berths in the Beijing Games. The two currently rank top two in the world with Wang Liqin in the third place.
Chinese men’s head coach Liu Guoliang admits the law of jungle applies to his team, saying “only the fittest goes to the Olympic Games.”
“Wang Hao and Ma Lin have been in better form than Wang Liqin and they are ranked higher too,” said Liu.
Wang Liqin saw his form drop after beating Ma Lin in the 2007 world championship final in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, losing his world top ranking and registering a poor record against his teammates in the second half of 2007.
The Chinese coach has denied media insinuation that Wang Liqin has been ordered to go easy on his teammates in international events to ensure Wang Hao and Ma Lin to automatically qualify for the Olympics.
“Wang Liqin is a perfectionist,” said Liu. “He is trying to be perfect in every aspect – serve, forehand, backhand, connection and rally. He tends to give himself too much pressure. While feeling he is not as perfect as he thinks, Wang seems to lose confidence.”
After a string of setbacks which includes five straight losses to Wang Hao in 2007, Wang Liqin has waken up to the fact that in the Chinese team world singles champion doesn’t necessarily mean the best.
“Wang Liqin has now realized he isn’t superior to his teammates despite the billing as a world singles champion,” said Liu. “I believe he will rebound in this world championships.”
The Chinese men’s and women’s teams are set to dominate the week-long world championships. China has never lost the women’s team crown since 1991, while the last defeat of the Chinese men came in 2000.
Wang Liqin’s career has been filled with bumps. Hailed as the most advanced player on the Chinese team, the 21-year-old Wang lost to Japanese Koji Matsushita in the 1999 World Cup in Guangzhou, enraging then Chinese head coach Cai Zhenhua, who called him “retarded” in front of media.
That loss was costly.
Wang missed the 2000 Olympic singles competition despite his world No. 1 ranking. Instead, Wang took part in the doubles event and won his first Olympic title with Yan Sen.
As defending world and Olympic doubles champion, Wang Liqin missed the doubles action in the 2004 Olympics in Athens after Yanbroke an arm in a car accident. His singles campaign ended in the hands of Wang Hao, who later suffered a meltdown in the championship final against South Korean Ryu Seung Min.

from: xinhuanet.com 

World player of the year Kaka said Thursday he hopes to play for Brazil in Beijing Olympic Games in August.
AC Milan’s striker Kaka has won almost every club and individual honor there is in football except one title, that of Olympic champion.
Indeed, it is the only title Brazil have yet to win despite being crowned world champions a record five times.
Speaking at a World Food Program ‘Fill the Cup’ campaign, Kaka admitted he would like to be selected as one of the three players over 23 years of age permitted in each squad in China.
“I would like to (play) but I will leave it up to the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and Milan to decide,” he said.

from: xinhuanet.com 

A English-Chinese edition of first aid guidance has been issued to help athletes and tourists at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The pamphlet translates medical expressions on different types of allergies, diarrhea and fever, and contains a map of hospitals and first aid centers in the Chinese capital.
In case of emergency, the brochure can also be used as an SOS sign, as the bright red color of its cover is easily seen.
Sources claim other seven-foreign-language versions of the pamphlet will be released during the Beijing Olympic Games in this summer.
Beijing has launched a series of campaigns to ensure food safety and the health and personal security of foreign athletes and tourists for the Games.
From January to May this year, local police will beef up campaigns against organized crime, robbery, murder and other severe criminal offenses as well as collect illegally-held explosives, guns and ammunition, and strengthen control over bows and crossbows.
The police will also step up surveillance of entertainment venues to fight pornography and gambling, and remove safety hazards within 200 meters of Olympic venues.
The city expects to welcome more than 500,000 visitors from overseas during the games, with the largest daily visitor-inflow estimated at 300,000. It has 806 star-ranking tourist hotels offering 130,000 guest-rooms or 220,000 beds. Other public lodging houses and inns will serve another 646,000 beds.
Beijing is also expected to solicit around 1,000 local households as “Olympic Family Hotels” to receive foreign visitors in effort to increase the city’s guest room supply.
Also, it is estimated that 450,000 tickets for this summer’s Olympic Games have been allocated, accounting for about a quarter of the tickets available for sale in the second phase.
More than 700,000 orders for 4.2 million tickets were received, but only 123,000 bookings were confirmed after a computerized random draw.

Football designed for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was launched in Beijing on Sunday by adidas, an official partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Featuring Chinese characters ‘China‘ written by Former president of the Football Association of China Nian Weisi, the ball will be used in Olympic football preliminaries in Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao, and the Olympic finals in the Olympic City of Beijing.

Nian Weisi introduces the football. (Photo credit: Sportsphoto.cn)

source: beijing2008.cn 

Kenyan-born American Bernard Lagat hopes to repeat his world championship 1,500-5,000 double at the Beijing Olympics this year.

Lagat, 33, became the first man to complete the world double in Osaka, Japan, last year and now wants to emulate Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, who won both events at the 2004 Athens Games.
“It is do-able,” Lagat told a news conference in Glasgow on Thursday. “If I keep the same mental focus I will be able to do both. After the first round of the 5,000 it hurt. After I did the 1,500 I was feeling fresh but then when I went to my first race in the 5,000 I realised I was tired. Thankfully, we had two days off.”
Lagat, who won silver in the 1,500 in Athens 0.12 of a second behind El Guerrouj, is competing in an international indoor meeting in the Scottish city on Saturday.
He said he did not plan to run at the world indoor championships in Valencia, Spain, in March. “I thought about doing the world indoors but decided not to do it because I want to concentrate on good training for the Olympics,” he said.
“I have to qualify in both so I will continue in my season for now and then around July or August I can make my decision. I do not have to make my decision now.
“When I ran the 1,500 and 5,000 in Osaka (Japan) it gave me a different look on how things are. It is not easy doing the double. “People may have thought that ‘it seems like he is winning so easy’ but the burn was hurting on the third day of competition.
“It is also a great challenge that I have come through and have to keep trying it again. Hopefully, I will not be tired.”

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

Germany is to send a delegation consisting of some 450 athletes to the Beijing Olympic Games, to be held in August, a spokeswoman from the German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB) said on Wednesday.
In a phone interview with Xinhua, DOSB spokesman Micheal Schirp said the figure is subject to change as entry tickets for some events, like men’s basketball, are still uncertain so far.
“The German delegation will be the biggest one from Europe,” he said.
According to DOSB schedule, the first batches of athletes will be nominated on May 29, and the list will be finalized on July 15. On July 26, a grand farewell party will be held in Berlin to see off the delegation.
Schirp said the DOSB does not set the objective for winning medals in Beijing, but he expected the German delegation will be within the “second group”, at least maintaining the sixth place as they took in Athens in 2004.
In 2004, Germany sent a delegation consisting of 452 athletes to the Athens Olympic Games, and they brought home 49 medals, including 13 golds.

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

The Beijing Electric Power Corporation has invested 221 million yuan to support 18 months of electric augmentation in its “0811″ electric network program. The company is currently examining its facilities and capabilities to ensure a smooth supply of electricity during the Olympic Games.
As the Beijing Games will begin in August, this coincides with the busy summer season, when city residents use the most electricity. The “0811″ program not only deals with this doubled responsibility, the modernized technology also helps to patch up leaks in the electric network. In 2005, the health of wire circuitry used to transfer electricity reached only 43.6 percent. Today, that number is 71 percent. Currently, Beijing’s electricity network is in the process of trying to keep up to speed with the needs of the city’s rapid development.
A representative from the Beijing Electric Power Corporation explained that the “0811″ program is geared towards satisfying the electricity needs of the Olympics, assuring a safe supply of electricity, and boosting the company’s capabilities of handling electric emergencies. The program has increased the life of Beijing’s energy circuits and greatly improved transference ability.
The “0811″ engineering project involves methods of directly transferring electricity to buildings, sites, competition venues, roads, and bridges that will be used for the Olympic Games.
The National Stadium (“Bird’s Nest”) and the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) have four avenues for electric delivery, while the “Water Cube” has three. All other important Olympic sites have at least two different sources for electricity. In the case that one path fails, the other will automatically kick in.
The electric grid running through the city has also been strengthened so as to ensure that even at very high temperatures, electricity will be delivered in a safe manner. With the improvements, when strong electric storms hit the city, there is a very small chance of electricity delivery disruption.
Currently, the city’s urban and rural electric reliability rates are 99.9382 percent and 99.79 percent, respectively. Obvious improvements have been made regarding electric service, as the average time for electric recovery within the city has dropped from around 8 hours to 5, and from 26 to 16 outside the urban areas.

from: beijing2008.cn 

Beijing’ acting mayor Guo Jinlong said Sunday the municipal government will work to contain housing price hike and provide low-rent housing for poor residents.
He said the government would strengthen the macro control on the property market, adjust land provision and keep a tight housing credit policy, among others, to achieve the goal.
The government would spend 2.9 billion yuan ($40 million) to build and purchase 500,000 square meters of houses and flats and rent them to low-income residents at affordable prices, he told about 770 lawmakers at the annual session of the legislature.
Beijing would also build a total of 7.5 million square meters of houses and flats with reasonable prices and sizes this year, as one of the measures to curb the price hike, Guo added.
The government planed to spend 580 million yuan to renovate the houses for 10,000 families that were in dangerous conditions.
The average property price in China’s 70 and medium-sized cities in December were up 10.5 percent from the same month of the previous year, while in Beijing it was up 17.5 percent, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) earlier this week.
Officials with the Ministry of Construction have criticized that some developers were only interested in building large-sized luxurious apartments for high profit.
Some development companies hoarded land and apartments or spread false information to create public fear for housing shortages so they could drive up prices, Vice Minister of Construction Qi Ji said.
Earlier this month, the State Council, China’s cabinet, made amendments to the Regulation on Administrative Punishment for Price Violations to allow more stringent penalties for illegal price manipulators.

Beijing’s acting mayor Guo Jinlong delivers a government work report during the opening ceremony of 13th Beijing People’s Congress in Beijing January 20, 2008.

The acting mayor also vowed to accomplish the preparations for the upcoming Olympic Games to a “high level”, partly by addressing the concerns on traffic jams and pollution.
He put the preparations on the top of the municipal government’s agenda for the year, saying “(We must) accomplish the preparations for the Olympic Games and provide services in high-level and high-caliber ways.”
Guo made the remarks while delivering a government work report to about 770 deputies to the city’s legislative body that kicked off its annual session on Sunday morning.
“Hosting the 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympics is a great event for the county, the people and the Chinese nation,” Guo said.
He urged the National Stadium, nick-named the “Bird’s Nest” due to the shape, and other venues and facilities to conclude construction according to schedule.
The expansion of the Beijing international airport and the Beijing South Railway would be completed this year, plus the construction of a subway linking the airport to the downtown and several other subways and expressways.
Guo said Beijing would enact the “strictest standards” for pollutant emission this year and curb the pollution by heavy trucks that work at night.
Beijing would also cooperate with neighboring provinces and cities in improving environment conditions.
However, he admitted that “the task to control pollution and traffic congestion is still arduous.”
The government needed to provide better public services and improve the management of the city, he said.

Beijing Olympics organizers Wednesday unveiled the image and look of the torch relay that are full of Chinese feature.
The design of the image and look of the torch relay includes five components – the torch and collaterals; the torch relay uniforms; the convoy and chartered aircraft; the backdrop; and the city look.
“Blue and red dominate the backdrops for the Beijing Olympic torch relay, which adapt to the characteristics of different scenes, with the aim of transmitting the excitement of the torch relay,” Qu Yingpu, spokesman for the Beijing Organizing Committee’s Torch Relay Center, told reporters at the unveiling ceremony.
The inspiration for the original design of the torch relay lantern comes from the traditional lanterns used inside ancient Chinese palaces. The silver luster of the lantern coupled with crystal-clear glass serves as a foil to the flame and communicates the Olympic flame’s sanctity and purity.
The torch stand’s design borrows from the architectural styles of the Han and Tang dynasties, with its base showcasing “lucky clouds” drifting away, as if gently calling out to the torch.
The Beijing Olympic cauldron is based on the concept of a “round heaven and square earth” and uses a typical cauldron in the Chinese Bronze Age as well as the “lucky clouds” as its creative elements.
The 56 “lucky clouds” hollowed out of the curved plate of the Olympic cauldron symbolize well wishes to the world from the 56 ethnic groups in China, while the base of the cauldron has four legs with eight faces, symbolizing that the Beijing Olympic Games welcomes friends from all directions across the world, said Qu.

Photo released on Jan. 16, 2008 at a press conference shows the design of the Beijing Olympics chartered aircraft. (Xinhua Photo)

The Olympic cauldron stands 130 centimeters high, symbolizing the 130-day duration of the torch relay. The cauldron plate is 29 centimeters deep, symbolizing the 29th Olympiad. The cauldron post is 112 meters tall, symbolizing the 112 years that have passed between the staging of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and the 2008 Olympic Games.
The look of the convoy for the torch relay takes red and yellow as its basic colors, echoing the colors of the sacred flame and the torch, creating an exciting and dynamic visual effect and making the convoy a true mobile carrier of the Olympic spirit and the concepts of the Beijing Olympics.
The convoy consists of 13 automobiles and six motorcycles. Except for the police car and the ambulance, every other type of vehicle has a unique look but shares integral components with the rest of the convoy.
The design of the chartered aircraft highlight the message of the Beijing 2008 Olympic torch relay and the slogan of “Light the Passion Share the Dream“.
The uniforms for the Beijing Olympic torch relay include those for torchbearers, escort runners and staff members. As required by the IOC, white should be the basic color of the torchbearers’ uniforms. The basic elements of the escort runners’ uniforms are similar to those of the torchbearers, but their basic color is blue.

from: xinhuanet.com 

Water quality in Qingdao will meet the standard for the Olympic sailing event, a report issued by China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said on Tuesday.
At the Olympic sailing venue in eastern Shandong Province, the water quality was excellent for about 30 percent of the days monitored in August and fairly good for the rest, the report said.
The bacteria rate in the water was also below the national and international level, it added.
The 2008 Olympic Games will open on Aug. 8 and run to Aug. 24.
Six “red tides“, or algal blooms, were monitored in the coastal areas of Qingdao from 2004 to 2007. Only one, however, happened in August and it was non-toxic, the report said.
The SOA and Qingdao government have conducted environmental monitoring at the sailing venue since 2004, said Jiang Chongbo, an SOA official.
Qingdao’s light wind conditions had raised concern among athletes, but organizers said at a press conference last week that the coastal city was absolutely capable of providing adequate racing conditions.
Qingdao Vice Mayor Zang Aimin said that judging from the last two years’ test events and the meteorologic data for the past 30 years, the city’s wind conditions could meet the standards to hold Olympic sailing competitions.
“Though the city’s wind conditions are far from perfect, we are confident that the Olympic sailing events can proceed without a hitch,” she said.

from: xinhuanet.com 

When Zhi Lijiang first signed up to be an Olympic volunteer for the 2008 Beijing Games, she could hardly have imagined she would be playing the role of a Canadian tourist in English and etiquette classes.
The classes are all part of Beijing’s effort to get its population to speak English to welcome the millions of foreigners expected to flood to the city in this Olympic year.
Worried that its citizens’ poor command of the language will embarrass the country and lead to unfortunate misunderstandings, the Chinese government has embarked on a massive programme to teach the population basic English.
Some of the preparations, though, can look a little odd to foreigners.
Dressed up in a big blond wig, sunglasses, gold earrings and silk scarf, Zhi, 63, pretends to be a Canadian tourist while her classmates take turns talking with her.
“I am from Canada. This is my first time to China,” she said.
“Welcome to Beijing, the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games,” another replies to her, standing in the front of the classroom.
Zhi rehearses three times a week with a class of over 100 citizens, all over the age of 50, to practise English phrases and etiquette to help foreign guests visiting Beijing for the Games.
Zhi and her friends all live in Beijing’s Dongsi Olympic Community, the only one of its kind in the city, not far from the Forbidden City. By teaching the residents English, it’s expected they might be able to give directions to lost tourists.
The neighborhood of traditional courtyards and alleyways was specially renamed for the Games, and is what the organisers hope will become a model for other parts of the city during the Olympics.

OLYMPIC DRIVE
The oldest couple in the classroom are Lu Baoli and Wang Xiuqin, aged 72 and 65, who have lived just around the corner from the classroom for most of their lives.
They attend a two-hour class every Saturday and attend an English corner and salon every Wednesday.
“I recommend visiting the Great Wall; it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World,” Wang patiently teaches her husband Lu out of a government-issued manual.
Lu struggles to follow.

“I cannot remember the words sometimes, I am too stupid,” he adds bashfully.
But both religiously attend their classes, and complete homework and other exercises at home together.
“I always keep a notebook in my pocket, so I can take a look whenever I have the time. I also memorize words when I am walking,” said Wang.
Wang and Lu even cut out and collect the Fuwa doll stamps and stickers, the official Olympic mascots, to keep for their grandchildren.
“I want my grandson to see his grandmother in the Olympics,” said Wang, flipping through her Chinese postal book.
The Olympic drive has spurred an English learning frenzy all over the country. People are learning English to be more “internationalized“, as organizers put it.
Most of the elderly residents living in the alleyways around Dongsi Olympic Village are excited to be part of the preparations as Beijing gears up to show China off to the world.
“Many changes have taken place. The alleyways are being repainted and renovated,” said a government official in the community, surnamed Zheng. “We want to look our best.”

ENTHUSIASTIC STUDENTS
The residents are more than happy to attend the Public Welfare English Class for Citizens in the Olympic community and role-play as foreigners and volunteers.
Jian Jia, a graduate student at a Beijing university who is part of the Olympic Volunteer Programme, has been teaching the class for more than three years.
“You cannot see them as students. Their English may not be as good as that, but their enthusiasm is better. Actually some of them can speak very good English and have no problem conducting simple conversations,” Jian told reporters.
Besides regular English courses, they also learn Olympic-related English, since most of them will be volunteers during the Games, which open on August 8.
As an Olympic volunteer, the elderly volunteers are supposed to offer help to any foreigners they may encounter.
They learn English songs too, with titles such as “Smiling Beijing“.
Beijing’s Olympic organizers have amassed 400,000 English speaking recruits in preparation for the influx of foreigners.

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

The media accreditation for the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in the Mainland of China begins Thursday, according to BOCOG.
Media outside of the Mainland of China (including the media from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) are welcome to Beijing Olympic Torch Relay.
To cover the Olympic Torch Relay outside the Mainland of China, media can communicate directly with the city task force in each relay host city for media accreditation.
To cover the Olympic Torch Relay in the Mainland of China, media can apply to BOCOG. The Beijing Olympic Media Centre will process media applications. Media centres in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities will provide support to media.
In addition, a Service Guide of Coverage of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay for Media outside the Mainland of China is published on website Thursday to facilitate the coverage of the Olympic Torch Relay. The Guide compiles of 4 sections, regarding media policy, accreditation process, and services for the relay in the Mainland of China and access to official information.
On March 24, 2008, the Olympic flame that represents peace, friendship and hope will be lit once again in Olympia, Greece. As the prelude to the Beijing Olympic Games, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay marks a significant step in public’s anticipation of Beijing Olympic Games.
Under the slogan of “Light the Passion, Share the Dream”, the Olympic flame will embark on a “Journey of Harmony” by visiting 21 cities on the five continents, and traveling across all 31 Provinces, Autonomous Regions and Municipalities in the Mainland of China. The Olympic flame will also reach the world’s highest mountain – Mt. Qomolangma before it arrives at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to light the main cauldron on 8 August 2008. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, with the participation of more than 20,000 Torchbearers, the duration of 130 days, and a distance of approximately 137,000 km, will be remembered as the one that covers the longest distance and the widest geographical expanse and that involves the largest number of participants in the history of the modern Olympic Movement.

from: xinhuanet.com

China’s Minister of Health Chen Zhu said on Monday the government will ensure public health safety during the Beijing Olympic Games by strengthening disease monitoring, emergency response and medical treatment.
“The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games provides a great opportunity for the country’s public health development. Beijing will join hands with co-host cities and its neighboring provinces to strengthen disease-related information monitoring and make risk evaluations on the possible public health accidents.”
He said rehearsals would be held and exercises in public health accidents would be improved. This was to prevent, reduce and eliminate risks in the public health sphere during the August Games to the maximum.
Liu Zejun, director of Beijing Municipal Disease Prevention and Control Center, said special attention would be paid to the following aspects when making public health risk evaluations: epidemic disease spread, group incidence of a certain disease, food-inflicted disease, vector organism and its control, hotel disinfection, drinking water safety, environment safety and heat stroke.
“Great efforts will be made in preventing rabies, bird flu, SARS and group poisonings,” Chen stressed.
Since the 2003 SARS outbreak, China has gradually improved its national disease prevention and control system. From 2002 to now, about 10.5 billion yuan (76.3 U.S. million dollars) had been spent on infrastructure construction of disease prevention and control centers nationwide.

from: xinhuanet.com 

The organizing committee for three “Good Luck Beijing” sport events to be held at the National Aquatics Center in the first half of 2008 was formed on Friday.
The National Aquatics Center is an important venue for the Beijing Olympic Games, second only to the National Stadium.
To examine its capabilities for the Olympic swimming, diving and synchronized swimming events, which will produce a total of 42 gold medals, the center will hostthe “Good Luck Beijing” Swimming China Open from January 31 to February 5, the 16th FINA Diving World Cup 2008 from February 19 to 24, and the 2008 Olympic Games Synchronized Swimming Qualification Tournament from April 16 to 20.
In his speech at the launching ceremony, Beijing Vice-Mayor and BOCOG Executive Vice-President Liu Jingmin urged the venue operation team to attach great importance to the preparatory work for the sport events. The center, dubbed the “Water Cube,” contains a unique membrane structure. It is the only Olympic venue to be funded by donations from Chinese compatriots as well as overseas Chinese, attracting attention from various parties, Liu reminded listeners. In addition, these events, as they will produce the second largest number of gold medals during the Olympics, will be covered by world TV broadcasters to cater to millions of fans. As such, the operation team needs to treat any problems with effective solutions, he added.
Expressing the hope that the Good Luck beijing sport events will be held at the Olympic level, Liu urged the organizers to enter the venue as early as possible, to test the functions of the facilities and beef up the operational scheme. A sound command system must be formed for the demands of the events and for its application during the Olympic Games, he stressed.
Currently, the preparations for the events, including their competition schedules, media operations, personnel assignments and logistics are progressing as scheduled.
The managerial level venue operation officials and managers of various positions have been assigned and more than 2,000 volunteers have been recruited. The latter will soon engage in extensive venue and position-oriented training.

Committee President Li Aiqing takes the floor.

from: beijing2008.cn 

The Beijing Olympic Float joined the renown Pasadena Tournament of Rose Parade in Los Angeles on Tuesday, giving the show a spectacular flavor.
Millions of spectators from around the world cheered as the Beijing Olympic Float passed.
The Rose Parade featured magnificent floral floats, high-stepping equestrians and spirited marching bands, displaying the tradition and pageantry for which it is renowned.
The Beijing Olympic Float, organized by the Roundtable of Southern California Chinese-American Organizations and sponsored by Pasadena-based Avery Dennison Corp., was one of the highlights of the 119th Rose Parade.
This was the first time that the Chinese people from the Chinese mainland and overseas Chinese have joined their hands in participating in the grand gala in its 119-year history.
The float represented the good wills of overseas Chinese to the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, organizers said.
The theme of this year’s New Year’s Day parade is “Passport to the World’s Celebrations.” It featured 46 floats, 21 marching bands and 18 equestrian units.
The Beijing Olympic Float themed “One World, One Dream” was a generous gift from the Beijing Olympic Games to the American people and the Parade, according to the organizers.
The float featured the upcoming Olympics’ five official mascots rotating on a base and decorated with a combination of flowers, including carnations and daisy petals.
Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard said the Beijing Olympics Float ” celebrates a great international tradition of competition, discipline and commitment to strong human values.”
“The tournament views the float as I do, as a celebration of the Olympic Games,” Bogaard said.
“The Tournament of Roses, which now has a history extending over 119 years, is a nonpolitical organization,” he said. “It celebrates a great competition consistent with the theme of the Rose Parade this year, which is the World’s Great Celebrations.”
“My sense is that the spirit of the day will be to celebrate the strength and the positive achievements of people,” Bogaard said.
Richardson Rowe, a tourist from New York, said the Beijing Olympic Float gave a new meaning to the Rose Parade on the New Year eve. “The beautifully-decorated float impressed me a great deal. It serves as a vivid introduction to the Beijing Olympic Games,” he said.
This year’s Rose Parade was broadcast on the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), Univision, HGTV, Travel Channel, Discovery HD as well as several local television stations in the Los Angeles area.

from: xinhuanet.com 

On New Year’s Eve, a grand gala show was staged at the China Millennium Monument in the Olympic City to welcome in Olympic Year 2008.
In attendance for the festivities with nearly 4,000 assembled guests were Duan Shijie, Vice Minister of the State General Administration of Sports (SGAS) and Executive Vice-President of BOCOG; Jiang Xiaoyu, Executive Vice-President of BOCOG; and Tang Xiaoquan, President of Executive Board of China Disabled Persons’ Federation and Executive Vice-President of BOCOG.
The gala, hosted by Chinese anchors and TV personalities Bai Yansong, Yang Lan, Pu Cunxin and Nie Yijing, began at 10:45 pm.
Renowned singers, including Jackie Chan, Kris Phillips, Dai Yuqiang, Wei Wei, Han Lei, Guo Feng, Zhou Chuanxiong and Shang Wenjie, delivered brilliant performances, expressing the Chinese people’s hopes for the Olympic Games at the dawn of 2008 while giving the televised audience a taste of the festive atmosphere throughout the country as the Olympic Year begins.
Then, amid thundering applause from thousands of spectators as the clock struck midnight, Duan Shijie, Jiang Xiaoyu and Tang Xiaoquan turned on a dazzling sign reading “We Are Ready”. The famous dancer with a disability Tai Lihua and other celebrities struck the Olympic Year Bell.
When the choir started singing “We Are Ready”, the ceremony reached its zenith.
A satellite connection was made with Hong Kong, during which more than 50,000 local people were seen on the huge screen taking part in the countdown celebrations. Olympic songs were intoned and best wishes exchanged. Live video feeds from Qingdao, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang and Tianjin also flashed on the screen so that none of the cities of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad were left out of the joyous evening.

Tanzanian runner John Steven Akhwari(3rd, L) waves to the crowd.

The gala was hosted by BOCOG and co-hosted by Aokang Group, the official leather goods supplier of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the official leather goods exclusive supplier of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

from: beijing2008.cn

Beijing has included the test results of a total of over 70,000 food samples into the data bank of the Olympic food safety monitoring system, according to a Xinhua report.
Since early September, the city’s industrial and commercial as well as quality supervision departments have engaged in a four-month campaign to address any problems impeding food safety and quality, focusing on 13 high-risk foods such as vegetables, fruits, meat, rice, cooking oil, soya bean products, aquatic products, dairy products, drinks, infant foods, health foods etc. Until the end of November, 100 percent of the whole-sale farm produce has been put under safety monitoring procedure.
At present, Beijing has set safety standards for 10 categories and 345 varieties of food to be used in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Specific safety measures have been introduced to Olympic food suppliers, sponsors, designated enterprises and logistics centers to impose through monitoring of food production, processing, transportation and distribution.
In a recent survey, the Beijing Consumers’ Association found 92.08 percent of responders positive on the safety of food in Beijing’s market. During the National Day holidays, the Beijing Municipal Food Safety Office conducted a survey on the pesticide residue of 270 samples representing 29 food categories, and found 99.5 percent of them qualified.

from: beijing2008.cn