Beijing 2008 organizers launched a design competition Wednesday to collect ideas for costumes used for the victory ceremony. The competition is open to professionals and the general public at home and abroad. Participants can find the procedure and submission form through the Beijing 2008 officials website at www.beijing 2008.cn. They are asked to design the costumes for medal/flower bearer (ladies), presenter usher (ladies), athlete escort (ladies), and flag bearer (men). Deadline for submissions is June 25.
Beijing organizers officially launched the Equestrian Marketing Program Tuesday. The program includes two levels of sponsorship – Associate and Supporter. Associates are exclusive sponsors for their respective category and supporters will share their exclusivity with no more than two other supporters in the same category. Sponsors can have their names and brands associated with the Olympic Equestrian Events, the Olympic Committee of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Olympic team. Potential sponsors can come from categories which include hotels, driving schools, jewellery businesses, and tourism.
Beijing officials said Wednesday they were unaware that a German contractor working on the main stadium for the 2008 Games is on the brink of financial collapse. Agence France Presse reports that Covertex, the German firm installing a protective plastic membrane around the 91,000-seat National Stadium called the Bird’s Nest”, the centrepiece of the Games, has filed for bankruptcy and was desperately seeking a rescue package. Shu Lei, an official in the spokesperson’s office of the Beijing city government’s Olympic Construction Headquarters, which oversees venue construction for the Games, said, “we have no information about this and we have nothing to say at this stage”. Covertex filed for insolvency with the municipal court of the Traunstein in southern Germany, said Hubert Reiter, a member of the management team. He was quoted as saying it was “not yet clear” what will happen with the Beijing Olympic Stadium. Work began in January and was to be completed in July.
A proposal to launch a nationwide referendum on whether and how Taiwan should allow the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games torch relay come to Taiwan has been put on the agenda of a legislative session scheduled for May 25, reports cna.com.
