Making “V” for victory signs, Beijing Mayor Liu Qi led a delegation of bid officials, sports officials and reporters leaving for Moscow Saturday to attend the IOC meeting on July 13.
Wang Wei, secretary of the Beijing bid committee, said “we are pretty confident. But we’ve got to be very careful to make a good presentation, a good image of Beijing, of China, in front of the IOC people, in front of the international community”.
Wang said, “our international environment is a lot better and our preparation is much stronger in terms of the sports facilities, infrastructure and everything”, said Wang, a member of the delegation travelling on a chartered Air China Boeing 777. He added, a Beijing Olympics would be “a big legacy for China and for sport”.
It will be late evening in Beijing when the IOC votes. Despite their high hopes, city officials are preparing just one celebration to mark the vote — in case Beijing loses.
Meanwhile, although there’s a feeling of confidence in the air, there have been no major Olympics-related event since the Three Tenors concert last month, and Chinese newspapers have been virtually Games-free for weeks.
