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OLYMPIC GAMES ARE CLOSE AT HAND

Sports

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games initiate in a month and from now on China is ready to receive her guests.

A month before the Olympic Games the construction processes are already over. The games will chiefly be held in Beijing, though other great cities of China will host tournaments too.

37 sports grounds have been renovated and constructed in China on the occasion of the Olympic Games.

In the morning of June 28, China's National Stadium resonated with cheers. After years of hard work, the "Bird's Nest" was finally completed. President Liu Qi of BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games), who is also a member of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, together with Guo Jinlong, vice-secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, Mayor of Beijing and executive president of BOCOG, were present at the National Stadium's celebratory ceremony.

"After years of effort, the National Stadium is finally completed. We hope that we can provide better services for the Olympic Games with better equipment," remarked Li.

The National Stadium, known as the "Bird's Nest," will serve as the main venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It is located in the Olympic Green and occupies 21.4 hectares. It stretches 333 meters from north to south and 298 meters from east to west, covering an area of 258,000 square meters. The National Stadium is 68 meters high and holds 91,000 seats. The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games, Athletics and Football events will be held in it.

The national stadium is surrounded in a sort of membrane. Unlike China's National Aquatics Center, or "Water Cube," another Olympic venue which is also surrounded in this membrane, the Bird's Nest version is curved and double-layered, offering gracefully decorative soundproof, wind-proof, rain-proof, and even UVA protection to its already impressive body.

The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are likely to be the best-organized games throughout the world. The Main Press Center (MPC) for the Beijing Olympics, together with the International Broadcast Center (IBC), formally opened on Tuesday, July 8 and will follow a 24-hour operation schedule between July 25 and August 27 for media crews from around the world. The Chinese government, Beijing Municipal Government and BOCOG have attached great importance to media services with courtesy for media members a top consideration.

With a floor space of 62,000 square meters, the MPC is the largest media center in Olympic history. Located within reach of the "Bird's Nest", "Water Cube", National Indoor Stadium, the Olympic Fencing Hall, the Olympic Village, Media Village and other venues, the MPC allows for more convenient news coverage and easy access by journalists.

The two media hotels are conjoined to the MPC, allowing for direct flow between media work space and living quarters, setting a precedent for the Olympic Games.

With 971 workstations, the press work room is also the largest in Olympic history. Among these workstations, 680 are equipped with electrical and network interface features to provide media crews with optimal communication capabilities. An additional 206 workstations will be available for photographers. W-LAN and laptop locks will accompany all stations for user convenience. To date a record 144 media organizations have rented 110 offices at the facility.