Gymnasiums and stadiums

According to IOC material, the Beijing Olympic Games needs 37 gymnasiums and stadiums as well as 63 training centers to accommodate it. Among the stadiums 31 are located in Beijing and the others are in Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao and Hong Kong. "Renovation and construction of these gymnasiums and stadiums will have been finished within the year," said Jiang.

Once construction has been completed the stadiums need to be tested. These tests will begin in July this year, ending in May of 2008, and will go under the slogan "good luck Beijing."

What happens to the stadiums after the Olympics? This has been an issue for Olympic Games around the world. "Sports sites might turn into burdens for the future development of the cities without scientific city planning and management," said Jiang. "Beijing is trying to turn these potential burdens into a precious legacy instead, by the reasonable planning and designing of their functions and operating systems."

The layout and planning of the Olympic stadiums have taken both city development and the public needs into consideration. Beijing's Olympic sites are split into four areas. First is the Olympic Sports Center area, which has 10 stadiums including the National Stadium, the National Gymnasium and the National Swimming Center.

Second is the university area, where the stadiums will be built in Peking University, the University of Science and Technology Beijing and the China Agricultural University. After the Olympics these stadiums will benefit nearby residents and students.

Third is the west Beijing region. This area of the city currently lacks sports facilities, but the construction of seven stadiums including the Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center will change that.

The last stadium area is the northern Beijing tourism area.

"Besides holding matches, Olympic gymnasiums and stadiums can be used as public health buildings, as well as for expositions and performances," said Jiang. For example, the National Swimming Center will be changed into a water amusement park after the Olympic Games.

Beijing has been trying out a new operational mode on the Olympic gymnasiums and stadiums to make better use of them after the big event. In the past, major gymnasiums and stadiums used to be invested in by the state and managed by the government's sports administration department. This meant that the government had to allocate finance for their maintenance.

"This time we borrowed experience from our foreign counterparts," said Jiang. "We invited bids for the construction of these gymnasiums and stadiums and the bid winners will enjoy 30 years of operation and management power. In this way, the bidders certainly will give a deeper thought to the future use of the sports facilities."

He also added that when picking suitable bidders, Beijing's Olympic team looked into their future operation and management plans as well as their construction capacity. "Therefore many of the operators of the gymnasiums and stadiums are combined units including not only construction firms and financial groups but also sports managers."

Tickets

"We guarantee that the Beijing Olympics tickets will be sold via authorized domestic and international ticket agents by adhering to the principle of fair for all," said the executive vice president of BOCOG.

Tickets for the Beijing Games total 9 million but not all of these are available to the general public. "The exact number of tickets that can be sold will not be decided until we figure out how many tickets will go to reporters, the IOC members, the athletes from all over the world and the games sponsors," noted Jiang. A sales plan for Olympic tickets will be unveiled in April, he added.

Considering China's average purchasing power, BOCOG has long promised to adopt a low-price ticket policy. BOCOG will offer student tickets, which comprise about 14 percent of all domestically available tickets and cost merely 5 yuan and 10 yuan for preliminaries and finals respectively.

Olympic torch relay

When China bid for the Olympic Games it promised that the Olympic torch would climb over the top of Mount Everest. Now the Olympic organizers have to make good on that promise, with all the technical issues that involves.

"We are now cooperating with the Chinese Mountaineering Association and we hope to make full preparations and work things out," said Jiang, adding that a Chinese mountaineering party is already in training for the task.

According to Jiang, the route of the torch relay was submitted to the IOC last December for approval. "What we are sure of is that provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are all included in the route," he said.

Beijing Paralympics

BOCOG will be the first organizing committee to host two of the world's most prestigious sporting competitions-the 29th Olympics and 13th Paralympic Games.

A Paralympic Games Department has been set up at BOCOG to coordinate preparations for the Paralympic Games, while other departments have divisions and staff responsible for the event. "We are going to host two excellent Olympic Games in 2008, the Olympics and the Paralympics," Jiang promised.