Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Coordination Commission said he was delighted with the progress made by Beijing 2008 in constructing Olympic venues. But he added that the environment in Beijing, which is notorious for its air pollution, would pose a “challenge for the organizers here”, saying that the IOC was confident that the city’s $12.3 billion budget for environmental work before 2008 would pay dividends. “We will make absolutely sure…that there will be no problems for the athletes”, he said. Verbruggen also said concerns over possible restrictions on media freedom in Beijing, where all Chinese media are subject to strict controls, were “not a big topic” in talks with BOCOG, who assured the IOC that “media would be able to do their work here just as in Sydney and Athens”.
The competition schedule for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games have finally been agreed upon by the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board “after a thorough consultation process”, said IOC coordination commission chairman Hein Verbruggen. The swimming finals and the team and all-round individual events in gymnastics will be held in the morning, but the individual apparatus events take place in evening sessions. All the track and field finals will be in the evening except for the marathon, while the men’s basketball final will be held in the afternoon, according to an IOC spokesman. Verbruggen said the international federations responsible for the sports which run the events at the Games had agreed to the schedule.
The IOC announced Thursday that there will be about 25 per cent more doping tests conducted at the 2008 Games than were carried out at the 2004 Athens Games. An IOC statement released at the end of the coordination commission’s inspection of the Games said, “as part of its zero tolerance approach to fighting doping, the number of tests will be significantly increased”. Final numbers are to be confirmed but are expected to be around 4,500, a 25 per cent increase on Athens 2004. Drug testing at the Athens Games was 25 per cent higher than the 2000 Sydney Summer Games where 11 athletes were caught cheating.
The IOC has signed an agreement with China’s Xinhua News Agency to set up the National Olympic Photographic Pool. As Host News Agency Xinhua will provide assistance to media organizations from all over the world.
