The level of detail in the preparations for the Beijing Olympics has caught the attention of
top International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials.
Yesterday Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the IOC Coordination
Commission for the Beijing Games, said he was impressed by the
"less tangible elements" of the city's preparations for the 2008
event.
"There are other things that determine the image of the Games
that's why they give so much attention to the look, the graphics,
to all these things that determine the perception of the Games at
the level of people abroad and in China," said Verbruggen.
Speaking after the conclusion of the coordination meeting with
the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
(BOCOG), he praised everything from the logo to the Fuwa mascots.
"We've been happy from the very beginning," he said. "For instance
the logo, the mascots and everything are really high-quality
work."
As the Games draw near concerns have been raised about Beijing's
air quality, traffic and media services. But the IOC said it was
confident the BOCOG could deliver a superb event. ?
"Media coverage is not a big topic between BOCOG and us because
they've given us all the assurances that the media will be able to
do their work as they did in Athens and Sydney," said
Verbruggen.
"In their bid it was clearly said that there will be no
restrictions on journalists and reporting on the Olympic Games and
guidelines for the media will be published next year," added
Verbruggen.?"We have no worries about that."
For the environment and transport issues Verbruggen admitted
there would be challenges for the Beijing organizers but still
confirmed their progress.
"The environment is a challenge for the organizers here but the
bid document gave us about 350 guarantees of measures that'll be
taken to improve the environment," said Verbruggen. "We haven't
seen any that they're not willing to keep."?
He said in the bid the city guaranteed to spend US$12.3 billion
on improving the environment and had already moved the Beijing
Shougang Group's steel works out of the city.
"They really work very hard on improving the environment here in
Beijing and they really live up to their promises," added
Verbruggen.
Drug Tests?to Increase
In another, unrelated development, athletes will face more tests
for performance-enhancing drugs at the 2008 Olympics, the IOC
announced yesterday.
There'll be a 25 percent increase in testing from the 2004 Athens Games with the number of tests
rising to 4,500. The IOC said the increase was part of its
zero-tolerance approach to combating drug abuse. ?
It follows a similar rise in tests between the 2000 Sydney Games
and Athens. Approximately 3,500 doping tests were performed in
Athens with 22 athletes testing positive for banned substances or
violating anti-doping regulations.
The Athens total was significantly up on the 2000 Summer Games
in Sydney where 11 athletes were caught cheating.
(China Daily October 27, 2006)