Olympic Times – Sports Daily

Is this the official Olympic Theme for the Beijing Olympics 2008?
It sounds really great.

May 29 marks the 100-day countdown to the 2008 Paralympic Games. It is an important milestone for Beijing as it continues to steadily progress toward fulfilling its promise of delivering Paralympic Games equally as important and splendid as the Olympic Games.
As Deng Pufang, Executive Vice-President of BOCOG and President of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, has said, “These Beijing Games have special significance,” as it is first time in history that one organizing committee will hold both the Paralympics and Olympics.”

Many “firsts”

Scheduled for September 6-17, the Beijing Paralympics will see 20 sports contested — more than any Games in Paralympic history. An estimated 4,000 athletes, 2,500 coaches and officials and 4,000 journalists from over 150 countries will attend the Beijing Paralympics — more participants than in any past Paralympic Games.
According to BOCOG, all Paralympic competitions will be held at Olympic venues, which are all equipped with barrier-free facilities. In addition, over 10 tourist attractions in Beijing will be equipped with barrier-free facilities before the Beijing Paralympics.
The Official Website of the Beijing Paralympic Games (paralympic.beijing2008.cn) will include special browsing tools to help people with a visual impairment. Some competition venues will be equipped with wireless hearing aids, and some visual and audio media will offer sign language translation software.
In terms of preparations, BOCOG has held 26 training sessions covering 18 topics for 1,702 technical officials, 637 of whom will be working for the Beijing Paralympics. The competition schedules have been finalized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and regulations on application eligibility for athletes have been formulated. Since last September, a series of Good Luck Beijing sport events, including goalball and wheelchair basketball tournaments, have been held as rehearsals for the upcoming Beijing Paralympics.

Fair competition

To ensure fair competition, BOCOG will classify Paralympic athletes into different categories according to type and extent of physical disability.

Well-prepared volunteers

Volunteers serving the Paralympic Games must be fully prepared in terms of principles and skills. BOCOG has completed recruitment of all 30,000 volunteers required for the Beijing Paralympic Games. The volunteers will receive training materials, and BOCOG has also set up 32 training bases to enhance the volunteers’ service skills and awareness.

Successful marketing

Marketing and ticketing efforts for the Beijing Paralympics have been well received around the world. There are 14 partners, ten sponsors, three exclusive suppliers and two suppliers of the Beijing Paralympic Games. More than 100 officially licensed Paralympic products have been placed on the market, including clothes, pins, toys and stationery. BOCOG has defined relevant rules and regulations for the usage of the emblem, mascot and logo of the Beijing Paralympics. Tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies have been available since December 2007, and tickets for competitions will also be available soon.

Paralympic Education

The Paralympic Games will leave China with the precious legacy of education. By now, China has set up and named 556 Olympic Education Model Schools, all of which have rolled out Paralympic education curricula. BOCOG has also developed the “Heart-to-Heart” program, linking 162 middle schools and primary schools with Paralympic committees in 159 countries and regions.

Opening ceremony of Paralympic Games will give a surprise to the world

The opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Paralympic Games will attract attention both from home and abroad.

According to Zhang Jigang, deputy director of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and chief director of the Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies, rehearsals are in full swing. Six thousand artists with a disability will take part in the opening ceremony. The program of opening ceremony has been approved by both BOCOG and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Zhang said the opening ceremony would highlight the theme of life through creative interpretations of life, human nature and humanitarianism.

The closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games will emphasize the “interaction” between life and nature.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven has expressed belief that the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games would be the most outstanding Paralympic Games in history. The Beijing Paralympic Games will link human civilization to the spirit of the Paralympic Games, humanistic ideas and high ideals, he said.

from: paralympic.beijing2008.cn

Germany announced on Thursday the first 79 athletes for Beijing Olympic Games, but German top sports official Thomas Bach told Xinhua that Germany does not set a goal for winning gold medal at the once-in-four-year sports gala.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Bach, IOC Vice President and President of the Bureau of the German Olympic Sportbunds (DOSB), said he hoped the German team could maintain the place they had got in Athens four years ago.

According to DOSB, Germany’s top agency overseeing Olympic sports, a total of approximately 450 German athletes are to travel to China, there are about 300 people from the functional team, including trainers, doctors and carers.

“We don’t set any goal by number, but we are confident we have a good team,” Bach said.

“Our goal in Beijing is that we achieve the place we got in Athens,” he said.

“From Athens to Beijing, then to London, we want to make some progress (in medal standings), I hope for progress shown in Beijing, but it will be a tough competition,” he added.

As for individual events hopeful of winning medals, Bach, who won the foil team gold medal in Montreal Games in 1976, said Germany’s hope is slim in his own event.

“Now Germany’s fencing is not strong, we did quite well in Sydney, but not in Athens, not good in recent championships,” he said.

However, Bach casted more hope on canoeing and women’s football.

“They (German women’s football team) won world title in China, they are used to compete in China, and we hope it will help,” Bach said, smiling.

As for prize money for medal winners, Bach said a gold winner would get around 15,000 euros from Germany’s sports foundation.

However, Bach said DOSB plans to reform the prize-awarding system, with more eyes on investing in those events and athletes who boast potential to win Olympic medals.

“To put in a simple way, at present we look at athletes’ past, but in the future we will look at their future,” he explained.

Bach stressed the importance of the participation of Olympic Games, saying that is the “career peak” for all athletes.

He recalled the moment he won the gold medal in Montreal Olympic Games.

“I did not realize what had happened. I do remember the moment before and after the victory ceremony, but I did not remember victory ceremony itself,” he said.

Talking about China, Bach said he ended his sports career in Shanghai of China in 1980 when the German national fencing team had a friendly with Chinese counterparts.

“That was last time I was at the podium, after that I’ve never touched it (sword),”

After retirement from professional sports, Bach has become a lawyer. In 1990s, Bach participated in the IOC work and have frequent exchanges with Chinese colleagues.

Bach spoke highly of the preparation of Beijing Games, saying he was “impressed” by improvement of infrastructure, transportation, communication facilities and services, citing national stadium “nestle” and “water cube” for example.

“We are all favorable. My people told me they have had smooth coordination with colleagues from organizing committee of Beijing Games,” said Bach, who claimed that he would stay in Beijing during the whole period of the Games.

“We are very confident we will have a great games in Beijing,” he concluded.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

May 29 marks the 100-day countdown to the 2008 Paralympic Games. It is an important milestone for Beijing as it continues to steadily progress toward fulfilling its promise of delivering Paralympic Games equally as important and splendid as the Olympic Games.

As Deng Pufang, Executive Vice-President of BOCOG and President of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, has said, “These Beijing Games have special significance,” as it is first time in history that one organizing committee will hold both the Paralympics and Olympics.”

Many “firsts”

Scheduled for September 6-17, the Beijing Paralympics will see 20 sports contested — more than any Games in Paralympic history. An estimated 4,000 athletes, 2,500 coaches and officials and 4,000 journalists from over 150 countries will attend the Beijing Paralympics – more participants than in any past Paralympic Games.

According to BOCOG, all Paralympic competitions will be held at Olympic venues, which are all equipped with barrier-free facilities. In addition, over 10 tourist attractions in Beijing will be equipped with barrier-free facilities before the Beijing Paralympics.

The Official Website of the Beijing Paralympic Games will include special browsing tools to help people with a visual impairment. Some competition venues will be equipped with wireless hearing aids, and some visual and audio media will offer sign language translation software. Click for the Official Website of the Beijing Paralympic Games

In terms of preparations, BOCOG has held 26 training sessions covering 18 topics for 1,702 technical officials, 637 of whom will be working for the Beijing Paralympics. The competition schedules have been finalized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and regulations on application eligibility for athletes have been formulated. Since last September, a series of Good Luck Beijing sport events, including goalball and wheelchair basketball tournaments, have been held as rehearsals for the upcoming Beijing Paralympics.

Fair competition

To ensure fair competition, BOCOG will classify Paralympic athletes into different categories according to type and extent of physical disability.

Well-prepared volunteers

Volunteers serving the Paralympic Games must be fully prepared in terms of principles and skills. BOCOG has completed recruitment of all 30,000 volunteers required for the Beijing Paralympic Games. The volunteers will receive training materials, and BOCOG has also set up 32 training bases to enhance the volunteers’ service skills and awareness.

Successful marketing

Marketing and ticketing efforts for the Beijing Paralympics have been well received around the world. There are 14 partners, ten sponsors, three exclusive suppliers and two suppliers of the Beijing Paralympic Games. More than 100 officially licensed Paralympic products have been placed on the market, including clothes, pins, toys and stationery. BOCOG has defined relevant rules and regulations for the usage of the emblem, mascot and logo of the Beijing Paralympics. Tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies have been available since December 2007, and tickets for competitions will also be available soon.

Paralympic Education

The Paralympic Games will leave China with the precious legacy of education. By now, China has set up and named 556 Olympic Education Model Schools, all of which have rolled out Paralympic education curricula. BOCOG has also developed the “Heart-to-Heart” program, linking 162 middle schools and primary schools with Paralympic committees in 159 countries and regions.

Opening ceremony of Paralympic Games will give a surprise to the world

The opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Paralympic Games will attract attention both from home and abroad.

According to Zhang Jigang, deputy director of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and chief director of the Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies, rehearsals are in full swing. Six thousand artists with a disability will take part in the opening ceremony. The program of opening ceremony has been approved by both BOCOG and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Zhang said the opening ceremony would highlight the theme of life through creative interpretations of life, human nature and humanitarianism.

The closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games will emphasize the “interaction” between life and nature.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven has expressed belief that the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games would be the most outstanding Paralympic Games in history. The Beijing Paralympic.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

China launched a second Olympic weather forecasting satellite, the Fengyun-3 (FY-3), Tuesday morning.

The satellite was launched on a Long March-4C carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province at 11:02 a.m. (Beijing Time).

It entered the preset orbit 27 minutes later.

Gao Huoshan, general director of the FY-3 research team, said the satellite would send back images with the highest spatial resolution of 250 meters and its temperature sensitivity would reach 0.1 degree Fahrenheit. Both indices were close to the most advanced level of similar satellites in the world.

The highest spatial resolution of existing satellites in China had been 1.1 kilometers, according to Gao.

“The 250-m resolution images will be of vital significance for censoring global climate changes and possible subsequent natural disasters,” said Gao.
It would also contribute to key geographical data for the research on aviation, navigation, agriculture, forestry and oceanography, he added. Read the rest of this entry…

Beijing will host the largest yet Olympic cultural festival around August’s Games, attracting thousands of performers to participate, said an official of the Beijing organizing committee Tuesday.
Nearly 300 art teams both home and abroad will perform from June 23 to September 17 at the Sixth Olympic Cultural Festival, said Zhao Dongming, director of cultural activities department of the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games.
“I believe it will be the most diversified one in the Olympic history.” Zhao said, “It will be a chance for cultural integration between China and the rest of the world.”
British soprano Sarah Brightman, who sang Amigos Para Siempre (Friends of Life) at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, will perform.
Italian violinist Salvatore Accardo, the Russian National Ballet Theatre, as well as an Irish Riverdance team, will also take part, he said.
China has been holding Olympic cultural festivals in Beijing since 2003. These included sports film showings, song competitions and exhibitions around the city.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

A Beijing Olympic official has strongly condemned the disruption of the Olympic torch relay in Paris by a very small number of “Tibet independence” secessionists and a handful of so-called human rights-minded NGO activists.
A spokesman of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee said on Monday that the serious incident clearly showed that “Tibet independence” secessionists have been disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games in a planned, premeditate and organized way.
What the separatists have been doing are far from “peaceful” demonstrations, but attempts to foil the smooth relay of the Beijing Olympic torch through violent means, and has thus blasphemed the Olympic spirit, he said.
France is the hometown of Pierre De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, said the spokesman. The large number of Paris residents turning out to welcome the Olympic sacred flame showed that the flame belongs to the people of the whole world.
The “Tibet independence” separatists’ malicious and open challenge of the Olympic spirit and the Olympic Charter has proved unpopular and is bound to fail, he said.
The Beijing Olympic Games is not only a grand event for the Chinese people, but also for people all over the world. It bears great significance for glorifying the Olympic spirit, spreading the Olympic culture and promoting the development of the Olympic Games, said the official, adding that the Beijing Olympic torch relay will surely win wide support from all peace-loving people across the world, and will not be thwarted by any force.

from: xinhuanet.com 

China has ordered all pharmaceutical plants to tag medicines that contain stimulants to prevent athletes from mistakenly using banned drugs during the Olympic Games, a drug watchdog official said here on Sunday.
Drugstores were told not to sell such medicine without tags that read “athletes cautious” on the package, said Wu Zhen, vice director the State Food and Drug Administration at a press conference on the sidelines of the parliament session.
Only approved pharmaceutical plants and wholesalers are allowed to produce and wholesale protein assimilation preparations and peptide hormones, the official said.
The Chinese law also forbids the sales of protein assimilation preparations except insulin or the sales of peptide hormones, Wu added.
The moves were aimed at a fair and clean environment for the Games, Wu noted.
A catalog of drugs needed during the Olympic Games has been compiled.
China is resolute against doping and the Beijing Olympics will feature the largest number of doping tests in the history of the Games, according to officials with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).
Anti-doping requirements have been issued to all participating athletes at the Beijing Games, officials said.

from: chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-03/16/content_6540272.htm

The civil aviation authority said on Thursday that stricter security checks would soon be implemented to guarantee passenger safety.
The announcement came in the wake of a foiled terrorist attempt on a Beijing-bound passenger plane last Friday.
The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said in a new release that the new measures include increasing hand luggage inspections and body checks, as well as ending express check-in services currently enjoyed by frequent flyers.
The CAAC is also drafting more rules to ban carry-on liquid items on domestic flights after at least two liquid-filled cans smelling of alcohol were found in the foiled plot.
For passengers on international and regional flights, security check rules will remain unchanged, the authority said.
At present, according to rules adopted last May, all liquids carried in hand luggage on international flights must be held in containers with a capacity of no more than 100 milliliters.
The containers should be placed in a transparent, resealable bag with a maximum capacity of 1 liter.
Each passenger will be allowed to carry just one bag.
Exemptions will be made for baby milk and baby food in the baby’s presence as well as medications with prescriptions.
Although domestic flyers have previously been subject to more lax security checks, stricter security checks than those before international flights are likely to be introduced in the not-to-distant future.
The CAAC declined to reveal any details of the new rules yesterday, but the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post reported that all bags containing liquids of any description, even those containing baby milk, would all have to be checked in.
The report suggested that parents would have to request formula when buying tickets, and flight attendants would in turn provide it.
Some local airports confirmed they had already tightened security before the CAAC news release.
Gao Zhengpu, an official with Shanghai Airport Authority, said that the two airports in the city had both tightened their security check.
“Security staff open up and smell every bottled liquid in carry-on bags,” he was quoted as saying by Oriental Morning Post.
According to Gao, greater security checks have slowed passenger flow.
Every 10 minutes, no more than 15 are checked through, as opposed to 30 every 10 minutes previously.
Zhu Kelin, an official with the East China branch of the CAAC, told China Daily that the administration would soon issue detailed implementation measures.

from: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-03/14/content_6535178.htm

Indicating the official start of the Beijing Olympic torch relay, the lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympic torch will be held in Ancient Olympia, Greece on March 24 as scheduled.

Intensified and orderly preparations for the event are underway, an official of the Greek Olympic Committee was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

As a tradition, the torch lighting ceremony is held in front of the Temple of Hera of Ancient Olympia. Starting out from Olympia, 605 Greek torchbearers run a distance of 1,528km in Greece to relay the torch for seven days. The relay will pass through 16 regions and 43 cities, in addition to four communities, with 29 celebration events along the route. At 3:00pm on March 30, the flame arrives at Panathenian Stadium in central Athens, where the first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896. On March 24, 2008, the Greek Olympic Committee will hold the ceremony to hand the flame over to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

For the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, the flame was lit in front of the Temple of Hera, the site of Ancient Olympia, with an ensuing Olympic torch relay. Since then, the tradition has been carried out for a total of 16 Olympic Summer Games.

The torch lighting for the Olympic Winter Games was first held in 1964 in front of the monument to Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games. So far 12 Winter Games have had their flames lit at Ancient Olympia in a ceremony similar to that of the Summer Games, with the same artists playing the part of the priestesses.

With the stadium, arena, the athletes’ dormitory and religious service facilities such as the altars of Zeus and Hera in place, the site of Ancient Olympia hosted the ancient Olympic Games between 2700 BC and 1600 BC. Afterwards, the site fell into ruins as a result of religious conflicts, earthquakes and robberies.

source: beijing2008.cn 

Air passengers will be guaranteed safety during the upcoming Beijing Olympics, a senior civil aviation official said Monday.
Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing NPC session in reference to the foiled attempt on Friday to crash a passenger jet bound for Beijing.
“China’s civil aviation industry adopts very tight security measures, which in recent years have been among the best in the world,” Li said.
“We have the capability to guarantee the safety of airline passengers.”
A China Southern Airlines flight that took off from Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday at Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu province, because “some people were attempting to create an air disaster“, Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said on Sunday.
The Southern Metropolis News quoted an unnamed source yesterday as saying at least two people, including an 18- or 19-year-old girl, were involved in the attempt.
An air hostess smelled a faint odor of gasoline and traced it to the girl, who was put under restraint, the paper said. The suspect was trying to ignite the fuel to cause an explosion in the airplane, the newspaper quoted a CAAC circular as saying.
The paper also said loopholes in the safety procedures at Xinjiang airport were to blame.
Although declining to comment on the accusation, Li, the former head of Air China, the nation’s largest airline company, said “measures will be taken to strengthen the safety of air transportation” for the upcoming Beijing Games.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

The terrorists killed earlier this year in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had planned an attack targeting the Beijing Olympic Games, a senior Chinese official said here on Sunday.
Chinese police smashed a terrorist gang in January in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, killing two and arresting 15 others. Knives, axes and books about terrorism were seized.

“Obviously, the gang had planned an attack targeting the Olympics,” said Wang Lequan, chief of the Xinjiang autonomous regional committee of the Communist Party of China on the sidelines of the national parliamentary session.

The group was said to have collaborated with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a group the United Nations labeled a terrorist organization in 2002.

“The Olympic Games slated for this August is a big event, but there are always a few people who conspire sabotages. It is no longer a secret now,” said Wang.

“Those terrorists, saboteurs and secessionists are to be battered resolutely, no matter what ethnic group they are from,” said the official.

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

Traffic ban shall be imposed during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, with the vehicles affected compensated by the government, said Ji Lin, vice mayor of Beijing on Friday.
“Automobiles, excluding taxis, buses and emergency vehicles, are to stay off roads every other day in accordance with the even and odd numbers on the license plates,” said Ji, a deputy to the 11th National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature.
“The ban is aimed to ensure air quality during the sport events in Beijing,” he said.
Drivers whose vehicles are stopped according to the rule will get compensation, Ji noted, adding that the compensation plan is being drafted and the amount is yet to be published.
Some vehicles belonging to government departments and state-owned enterprises are to be sealed, said the official.
To facilitate people’s travel, some buses will have their operation time prolonged or even run around the clock, while intervals between subway trains are to be shortened, he said.
Beijing tested a traffic ban from August 17 to 20 last year, removing 1.3 million or one third of automobiles from its gridlocked streets, which, according to an earlier report, reduced exhaust emissions by 40 percent each day.
The air quality seemed improved during the four-day trial, with the pollution index standing between 93 and 95, down from 116 on the day prior to the test.
During the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation from November 1 to 5, 2006, half of the vehicles from central government departments and army vehicles and 80 percent of the automobiles from the Beijing municipal government departments and the provincial bureaus located in the capital were ordered to stay off the roads. The move was also seen as a pre-Olympics rehearsal.
Beijing is going all out to clear its sky and remedy its clogging traffic for the Olympic Games this coming August, with boosting public traffic a major resort. The city slashed prices of public traffic and opened 27.6-km subway lines last year.
“Keeping public traffic at low price is not a makeshift, but a long-term policy to encourage more citizens to leave behind their cars,” said Ji.
The vice mayor also told Xinhua that Beijing would extend its rails to 561 km by 2015.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

The Beijing Olympics scheduled for August this year here would feature the largest number of dope tests in the history of the Games, a top official of the organizing committee said.
“China is resolute against doping and would use hi-tech measures as part of anti-doping efforts“, Jiang Xiaoyu, Vice-President of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) said.
Firming the idea further, Cui Dalin, Deputy Director of the State General Administration of Sport, said that China had imposed anti-doping requirements on all the participating athletes and initiated steps to prevent them from mistakenly using banned drugs.
“As far as the Chinese teams are concerned, we would rather lose gold medals than dope,” Cui added.
The officials, both members of Chinas top political advisory body, the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, which is currently holding its annual session here, were quoted as saying official Xinhua news agency.
Meanwhile, Liu Jingmin, Vice-Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice-President of the BOCOG, responding to political issues being linked with the Games said, “The world is vast with different voices, but we must carry on preparations for the Olympic Games as scheduled.” Cui said criticism would not dampen Chinas enthusiasm and added, “The more problems we find out now, the better the Olympic Games would be“.
Commenting on political issues surrounding games, Jiang said, “As International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said, the Games is solely a sporting gala that shouldn’t be linked with politics.”

from: ndtv.com 

Beijing’s National Stadium will not be completed until the end of April after preparations for the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies interrupted construction, a top official from the Beijing Olympic Games organizing committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) told China Daily yesterday.
The architectural centerpiece of the Beijing Olympic Games, affectionately known as the “Bird’s Nest”, was scheduled to be finished by the end of March ahead of two “Good Luck Beijing” Olympic test events in April and May.
“The construction of the venue and the background setting up for the ceremonies are going on together now, which has postponed the working progress of the Bird’s Nest,” said Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of BOCOG and a newly-elected CPPCC member.
“The Bird’s Nest will be the last but the best venue at the Beijing Games.”
Located at the north end of the city’s central axis line, the National Stadium, designed by Herzog & DeMeuron (Swiss) and China Architecture Design Institute, will host the opening and closing ceremonies, all athletic events and the men’s soccer final.

The National Stadium, or “Bird’s Nest”, is lit in colors at night in Beijing, March 3, 2008. The Stadium will not be completed until the end of April after preparations for the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies interrupted construction.[Xinhua]

Village completed
Another important Olympic venue, the Olympic village, has also been largely completed.
“Up to now, the construction of all buildings in the Olympic villages have been completed and a full loading test is scheduled to be carried out before July 8, when the lockdown begins,” said Liu Rong, an official from Beijing Guoao Investment Development Co Ltd, the owner of the venue.
The Olympic Village is located at the northwest corner of the Olympic central area in northern Beijing.
It will accommodate 16,000 athletes and officials during the Olympics and 7,000 athletes and officials during the Paralympics.
The village will open to athletes and officials on July 27, two weeks before the opening of the Beijing Games and, afterwards, serve the Paralympics until September 20.
“In order to make it a home for all the athletes and officials, we will hold various recreational activities and performances in the village,” said Yu Debin, the village’s deputy director. “When the athletes achieve good results, we will present them cards with congratulations.”

from: chinadaily.com.cn

As the Beijing Olympic Games are only five months away, China’s top political sessions held in the national capital this spring have been inevitably stamped with the marks of the Games.
“Olympics” and the so-called “Two Sessions” — the annual full meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — have replaced the “Snow Disaster” as catch phrases of the Chinese media over the past two weeks.
Newspapers, TV programs and netizens have speculated over how Premier Wen Jiabao will address the Olympics issue in his annual government work report to the annual parliament session.
Foreign media organizations have also showed great interest. According to the press center for the NPC and CPPCC sessions, 877 foreign reporters registered to cover the sessions.
“Many have made interview requests on Olympics-related issues, such as Beijing’s air quality and food safety,” said Zhang Changchun, an official with the press center. “We plan to invite relevant officials to answer their questions at a special press conference.”
In the meantime, how to ensure the success of the Olympic Games is also a topic of common interest among the CPPCC members and NPC deputies.
As the competition venues are almost in place, the sessions’ attendees have shown concern about improving public manners and behavior to polish the national image.
It is predicted that more than 20,000 registered journalists from all over the world will come to cover the sports event in Beijing and the city will see another 500,000 foreign tourists during the Games, said Deng Yaping, a veteran woman table tennis player who is also a CPPCC member.
“How to ensure they are well-received in China is a challenge for both the Games organizers and all countrymen,” said Deng, who is vice director of the Olympic Village of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).
The BOCOG used the CPPCC and NPC sessions as a rehearsal venue for its volunteer services by sending 80,000 registered Olympic volunteers to help maintain traffic order and patrol the streets.
Du Wenqin, one of the volunteers, was assigned to help keep order at a subway station near Tian’anmen Square. The 56-year-old retired teacher finished training, including a 40-hour oral English class, before she started to work on Saturday.
She helped at least four foreign tourists to figure out the route to the bird’s nest-shaped National Olympic Stadium or to Wangfujing, a major shopping area in Beijing.
“I had been asking myself what should I do if I couldn’t understand the foreigners when they came for help, but so far, I’m satisfied with my performance and I believe I can do better during the Olympic Games,” said Du.
Diana Baker, a tourist from England, showed support to the Beijing Olympic Games after touring the city alone for two days.
The 23-year-old college student gave up her plan to go to the “Bird’s nest” on foot from Tian’anmen Square after a traffic police officer told her that even the shortest route would take her at least two hours.
“I can see the government and the people are working hard for the Games, and I believe Beijing is able to hold a successful Olympic Games,” said Baker.
Jiang Jufeng, an NPC deputy from the southwestern Sichuan Province, said that social stability and strong economic support were two necessities for a successful Olympic Games.
“China is absolutely qualified with those conditions concerned, ” said Jiang. “The real test for the government is how to take the opportunity to promote further development of the country.”

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

Foreign journalists are “very welcome” in the capital and they have nothing to worry about regarding their work in the country, a top official from the Beijing Olympic Games organizing committee told China Daily on Tuesday.
“Overseas media are very welcome in Beijing and their working conditions in China during the Games are guaranteed by the State Council Decree No 477 and several media guides,” Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and a newly elected CPPCC member, said during a group discussion.
“These regulations are the basis for our media services during the Games and they will be implemented strictly around the country, not just in Beijing and the co-host cities,” Jiang said.
To meet promises Beijing made during the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games to provide foreign media good working conditions in China, the central government has issued several regulations and media guides to facilitate foreign journalists’ activities for Olympic coverage.
Last July, a “One Stop Service” for news coverage of the Olympics and its preparatory period was also launched at the Beijing Olympic Media Center.
Preparations for this summer’s Olympics are one of the hot topics at the ongoing CPPCC and 11th NPC, which have attracted 843 foreign journalists, 20 percent more than last year.
The number is likely to rise because press registration will continue until today.
“If any problem occurs, foreign journalists can turn to relevant departments, such as the local foreign affairs offices and the Main Press Center or the International Broadcast Center,” Jiang said.
Jiang also offered reassurance to visitors and the public over concerns about heavy traffic during the Games.
The organizers have taken the needs of local people into account, he said.
By the time the Games begin, there will be about 3.3 million vehicles on the streets of Beijing.
To ensure smooth traffic during the event, and enhance air quality in the capital, local authorities plan to take more than 1.5 million cars off the roads.
The government will introduce a ban on government vehicles – similar to the one used during the Beijing Summit of Sino-African Cooperation Forum in 2006, and last August’s four-day test of alternating cars with license plate numbers ending in even and odd numbers.
“People won’t have to worry about transport problems during the Olympic Games,” he said. However, residents and visitors are encouraged to take public transport during the event.
Additional buses, more than 170 new shuttle routes and three new subway lines will be in use during the Games, Jiang said.

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

Beijing has attached great importance to upgrading food safety citywide as a precondition to ensuring food safety for the upcoming Olympics, an official said on Thursday.
Since 2005, the city has engaged in an all-around effort to improve food safety, with guidelines already formulated, said Tang Yunhua, a spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Office for Food Safety.
The city has stressed food safety supervision and management; media supervision and the participation of consumers in the process; and the set-up of a monitoring network, she told the journalists attending a press conference at the Beijing Olympic Media Center.
Beijing has conducted dynamic monitoring for various pollutants that threaten food safety and food-related diseases. Based on the findings, Beijing has established a risk assessment and warning system and improved the food safety credit system, the system of information gathering, assessment and publication, as well as the system of encouragement and punishment.
In a word, efficient monitoring has covered the whole process of food production, reproduction, logistics and consumption, in addition to a food safety retrieval system, Tang added.
At present, the monitoring network covers over 60,000 varieties of foods using six functional modes, including day-to-day monitoring; market control; information release; monitoring information; statistics analysis and geographical information. It can automatically generate statistical charts and report forms showing the general situation of food safety citywide, producers and distributors, as well as an analysis of demand-supply relations of the food market. The system can also make real-time statistics and analysis of the supply amount and prices of farm and sideline products in Beijing.

from: beijing2008.cn