Members of a coordination commission from the
International Olympic
Committee (IOC) arrived in Beijing yesterday to help the city
better prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games.
The 23-member group, headed by commission chairman Hein Verbruggen,
launched a whirlwind tour around Beijing hours after their landing
to prepare for their work over next two days.
The fact-finding team, made up of members of the IOC's Coordination
Commission for the Beijing Games and experts in a variety of
fields, will hold separate talks and seminars with their Chinese
counterparts on several Olympic-related areas.
The team encountered a sunny and clear day yesterday, causing
Francois Carrard, the IOC's director-general, to pray for the same
climate for the Games, which are still six years away.
"We are happy to see the gorgeous blue sky of Beijing, it would be
a blessing to keep it that way for the opening of the Olympic Games
in 2008," said Carrard, hinting environmental issues will be vital
for China's first ever Olympics.
The environment is one of the issues that the team plans to cover.
Other areas include infrastructure, security, finances and the
budget.
The team will mainly focus on goals for the next six months and
provide expertise on how they should be fulfilled to Beijing's
Olympic organizing committee, IOC sports director Gilbert Felli
said.
It
will be "a full program of transfer of knowledge," he said.
The IOC officials also said that they were sure that the tensions
between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan would not interfere with
the 2008 Games.
"We are absolutely confident that this should not be an issue for
the Games in 2008," said Carrard.
(China
Daily August 8, 2002)