The Athens 2004 Olympic Village will be ready in February, a month ahead of schedule. Eighty per cent of construction is complete at the site, which will house more than 16,000 athletes and officials during the Games next summer. The apartments look ready, buildings are painted, floor tiles laid, and toilets, showers and wiring have been installed. Work on landscaping has already begun. The village includes a hospital, drug test centre, restaurant, swimming pool, track and two gyms. Two buildings under construction next to the village to be used for accreditation, etc. will be finished in March.
Following the unveiling of the preferred locations of key Games venues in the Lower Lea Valley if London wins the 2012 Summer Olympic Games bid, it was revealed that hundreds of businesses will be forced out of Stratford.
Beijing 2008 has implemented a “BOCOG Green Office Guide” for a green Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The guide sets guidelines for the daily operation and activities of BOCOG’s office to make it environmentally friendly. It covers such areas as trash classification, selection of office equipment, paper recycling and a paperless office. In the BOCOG office building there is a “save electricity” sign on every switch and the washrooms have signs reminding people to save water.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Games were involved in a five-day Technological Working Group Conference which ended Friday. At the conference they were briefed by the IOC technical department, BOCOG Technology Department and IOC sponsors Schlumberger-Sema and Swatch about the current situation of the 2008 Games. Also, Schlumberger-Sema and Swatch briefed the group on the technical and housing requirements for their future activities in Beijing. The conference will be held twice a year, in July and November.
