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| Sunday, 5 September 2004 |
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China ready to host 2008 Olympics Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Greece ATHENS, Sep. 4 - China is ready to host the best ever Olympic Games in four years time, according to the President of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Organising Committee (BOCOG) President, Liu Qi. The BOCOG chief, who was in the Greek capital for the Athens Games, said the construction of competition venues and upgrading of the existing ones have already begun. He expressed confidence of completing the construction of stadiums well ahead of the schedule. "Everything is going on perfectly and Beijing is ready to prove that the decision to award the Games to China would be a memorable one", Qi said. The Beijing Olympic Games plans to use 35 competition venues and 59 training venues. Of the 35 competition venues, 30 will be located in the capital Beijing, of which 15 are being constructed. There are 11 existing venues which would be renovated or expanded and four will be overlays. Of the five co-host cities outside Beijing, Qingduo will host the sailing events, Tianjin Qinhuangdao, Shenyang and Shanghai will host the soccer preliminaries. Having successfully hosted the Asian Games in 1990 in Beijing, China will make use of all past experience to open a new era in Olympic Games history as the over 200-nation Games returns to Asia after two decades. South Korean capital of Seoul hosted the last Olympic Games in Asia. Taken into full consideration of the post-Games use, the Beijing Olympic venues will be located mainly in four areas, namely the Olympic Green, Western Community Area, the University Area and Northern Scenic Spot Area. The construction work of the National Stadium, National Swimming Centre, Laoshan Velodrome and Beijing Shooting Range began in December last year and are progressing smoothly. The designing of the other Olympic venues are in full swing at present and construction work of the remaining venues would begin before the end of this year. Hence, there would be no worries for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which earlier expressed many doubts about the last Games here. Virtually nobody, except for the Greek organisers, believed the Athens Games would be a reality. But the venues in Athens were completed just before the commencement of the Games, a miracle performance. In contrast, Beijing is going for its targets steadily and the IOC has been highly impressed to see China's way of handling the things to make the XX1Xth Olympiad in 2008 a great success. Having lost the previous bid to host the 2004 summer Games, Beijing finally emerged victorious on July 13, 2001 when the Chinese capital was picked to be the host city of the 2008 Games at the 112th IOC sessions in Moscow. The BOCOG President Qi said the Chinese Government has rendered its fullest support to the Beijing 2008 Games. President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and other senior Government leaders have pledged their support to BOCOG's preparatory work. Qi added that the Chinese people are very enthusiastic about the greatest sporting event in the world coming to their capital city. He said the surveys conducted by both domestic and international agencies have indicated that up to 96% of ordinary people in China backed Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games. The Chinese are not only giving attention just for the construction work but to the environment too. 'Green Olympics' is one of the three concepts of the Beijing 2008 Games. In April this year, the BOCOG Environmental Policy on Environmental Management System was publicised. The organisers promise solemnly that it will help build and ecologically balanced city and create a pleasant environment for the Games, minimise negative impact of the Olympic activities on the environment in line with the sustainable development ideas of protecting environment, resources and ecological balance. China has not only proved their preparations for the 2008 Olympics with local construction and other facilities but also on performance wise. They bagged a rich haul of 32 gold medals at the last Games here, just three short of the medal table leaders USA. Those are just a portion of the harvest they bound to get after a massive nationwide sports development program. All in all it points to a great Olympic Games in Beijing in four years time. |
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