A Polish diplomat and his family became the first to register
for the "Olympic Families Tour Beijing" as the Beijing Olympic
Games organizers (BOCOG) launched the program to invite 10 families
both at home and abroad to an Olympic-themed tour in China on
Monday.
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Janusz Tatera, head of the Consular Section of the Polish
Embassy, together with his daughter and wife, was invited as
distinguished guests by the BOCOG and became the first Olympic
family registered for the program on the organizers' official
website www.beijing2008.cn during the ceremony.
"When Beijing was given the right to host the Games in Moscow
six years ago, I was there," said the former secretary general of
Polish Olympic Committee.
"Everyone on the spot share a same question that is what an
Olympics will be like in Beijing and I truely like to find the
answer," he said.
"That's why my whole family is so interested in this program,"
he added.
The tour, covering both Beijing and co-host cities, is scheduled
to begin on Aug. 8 this year to mark the one year count-down to the
Beijing Games as 10 families, five from China and five from the
rest of the world, will been chosen by Internet users through
BOCOG's bilingual official website in Chinese and English.
The participants must be families with at least three members
and first registering with the official website to become a member
of the Olympic families before submitting photos and introduction
of themselves.
Once their information is verified by the organizers, these
families will be open to the public voting.
The candidates will be narrowed down to 100 by the end of next
month to enter the second-phase competition which runs until June
30 before the 10 winning families are picked.
The winning families will visit the innovative "Bird's Nest"
main stadium and the state-of-art swimming stadium "Water Cube" as
well as the Olympic sailing site in Qingdao, Shandong Province.
They will also watch some Olympic test events and get the chance
to climb the Great Wall and have a look around in the Forbidden
City in the Chinese capital.
(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2007)