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Beijing's Olympic village opens

D

Dragon

Guest
Beijing's Olympic village opens

The first athletes have checked into Beijing's newly-built Olympic village, with 12 days to go until the Games.

China's basketball star Yao Ming and hurdler Liu Xiang were present for a flag-raising ceremony at the heavily guarded site.

The opening came on a muggy morning and correspondents reported a haze of pollution over the village's complex of luxurious, high-rise apartments.

In all 16,000 competitors will stay there during the games.

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville, in Beijing, says the flats - housing either four or eight people each - have been built to an unusually high environmental standard for China.

Solar energy will power some of the buildings, and unlike most of China, residents will be able to drink the water straight from the tap.

Specially extended beds have been installed for taller athletes.

Food safety is a concern in China, so everything served to the athletes will have undergone spot checks at mobile laboratories, our correspondent says.

Key to the village

Speaking at the opening ceremony, a vice-president of Beijing's organising committee, Chen Zhili, said: "We now welcome athletes from around the world to come to the Games."

Chen, the so-called mayor of the village, added: "We will try to satisfy the needs of people from different cultural and religious backgrounds."

He received a symbolic gold key to the village from organizing committee president Liu Qi, also the head of Beijing's Communist Party.

Chinese athletes were the first to check into the village.

The flats will be refitted and sold after the Olympics.

Reports say they will cost up to $1m (£500,000) - considered a high price even in Beijing's soaring property market.
 
S

Silver

Guest
Athletes village opens under cloud of smog
Posted: 27 July 2008 1422 hrs

BEIJING : Basketball icon Yao Ming and more than 200 other Chinese Olympic hopefuls and officials checked into the Athletes Village on Sunday as it opened amid tight security and a shroud of smog.

Beijing Olympic organising committee chief Liu Qi handed the keys of the village to Chen Zhili, a senior communist party official who is the village mayor.

"We are delighted to have our first guests -- the Chinese Olympic team," Chen said as she officially opened a village that will house more than 16,000 athletes and officials during the August 8-24 Games.

The announcement triggered an explosion of multi-coloured tinsel and a rush of dancing children dressed as fuwa, the Olympic mascots.

But after the ceremony, which was followed by the raising of the Chinese flag, most athletes including Yao were ferried by buses out of the village to return to their training camps elsewhere in the city.

"Its too early for them to take up residence yet, because they are still in training," said Chinese team official Shi Kangcheng.

A small number of competitors from other nations have already moved into the sprawling complex close to the main Olympic stadium, but they have yet to have their flag raising ceremonies.

Athletes from about 10 Chinese teams, including basketball, swimming and gymnastics, attended the ceremony.

"We are looking forward to the Olympics, especially because it is in China," said Huang Yubin, head coach of China's gymnastics team.

"Everyone is in good physical and mental condition and we expect to do very well indeed."

On Friday, China announced a delegation of 639 athletes including Yao and reigning 110m Olympic champion Liu Xiang who all pledged to do "honour for the motherland."

The delegation is China's biggest ever and outnumbers the 596 athletes being sent by the United States, its chief rival for medal-table supremacy.

China finished second to the United States in Athens four years ago and is hoping home advantage will help eclipse them this time round.

But one potential black mark against the host nation was evident at the village which was shrouded in a thick haze.

Air pollution remains a concern with just 12 days to go until the Games open. But Chinese officials say they are confident that measures already taken, including banning more than one million cars from the streets of the city and closing factories, will clear the skies before the Games.

Meanwhile tight security surrounded the village which is close to the main Olympic venues in the northern part of the capital city.

China has said that staging a safe Games is the top priority and is fielding a security force of more than 110,000.

The village holds 42 apartment blocks, containing more than 9,000 bedrooms, with two single beds in each.

As well as 24-hour restaurants, it boasts a clinic, library, shops and sports facilities. Each apartment is also equipped with high-speed Internet access.
 
T

tuakee

Guest
July 27, 2008
Olympic village opens, China raises flag

BEIJING - THE Olympic village, which will house 16,000 athletes and officials during next month's Beijing Games, was officially opened by its mayor Chen Zhili on Sunday.

Mr Chen, a senior Communist Party official, was handed the key to the heavily-guarded compound by Beijing Olympic chief Liu Qi during a ceremony held under skies still grey with the pollution that China has promised to clear in time for the Aug 8-24 Games.

'The Olympic village has prepared everything, opened our arms, to warmly welcome the athletes, officials and media from all nations and regions to stay here,' said Mr Chen, who is also a vice president of the organising committee (BOCOG).

China was the first delegation to take residence by raising its flag at the village, with NBA All Star Yao Ming and high hurdles world champion Liu Xiang among the hundred or so athletes present to witness the event.

The 42 newly-built apartment blocks can house 17,000 people in 9,000 rooms but officials say 1,000 fewer than that total will take up occupancy during the Games.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge will have a room in the village, while mayor Chen will live in a traditional Beijing 'Siheyuan', or courtyard.

'This Olympic village has distinctive Chinese features, including a centre where athletes can learn Chinese as well as folk arts like kite-making,' said Ms Deng Yaping, the former Olympic table tennis champion who is deputy director of the village.

'It's been quite a challenge for us, we have to get to know everybody's living habits, lifestyle, religions, cultural background.'

Tightly controlled
Religion is tightly controlled in China but adherents of all the world's major religions will be able to practice their faiths at the village's services centre.

China has said that terrorism is the single biggest threat to the success of the Games and no efforts have been spared to ensure the athletes will be safe from the kind of attack that marred the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Then, Palestinian terrorists jumped over the walls of the village and took Israeli athletes hostage. Eleven died during the attack and a botched rescue attempt.

The Beijing village is enclosed by a wall and two lines of high security fencing and strict credential and bag checks are carried out on anyone trying to gain entry.

'We will satisfy all the villagers and create a safe, convenient, warm and harmonious home for them,' said Mr Guo Jinlong, the mayor of the city of Beijing.
 
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