CHINA: SWIMMING - Swimming finals and much of the gymnastics at the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be held in the morning, the IOC announce

Beijing's Olympic venues are on track for completion in time for the 2008 Games and looking spectacular, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) coordination commission chairman Hein Verbruggen said on Thursday (October 26). Verbruggen was speaking at the closing of the commission's visit to discuss the progress of preparations with the Beijing organising committee (BOCOG). IOC chief Jacques Rogge and Verbruggen earlier in the week took a stroll through the capital city's Olympic stadium - nicknamed the "bird's nest" - to check on progress of the enormous twisted steel structure. Verbruggen said the IOC was impressed with what they saw. "Prime concern always is of course the venue construction," said Verbruggen. "That is probably also the most tangible side of the project, and I am happy to be able to state that it is continuing at the right pace. I say 'right' to indicate that the work is progressing exactly as it should be. It is really on track." Lingering problems ranging from choking pollution and congested traffic to events scheduling also figured in the IOC's discussions with BOCOG. Verbruggen announced that the competition schedule for the Games had finally been agreed by the IOC's executive board, with the swimming finals and much of the gymnastics to be held in the morning, although the individual apparatus events will be contested in evening sessions. All the track and field finals will take place in the evening with the customary exception of the marathon. The proposed morning shift for the swimming finals had caused uproar when the news was leaked earlier this year, with some swimmers accusing the IOC of putting the interests of U.S. broadcaster NBC before the needs of the athletes. Morning finals in Beijing mean prime-time audiences in the U.S. for NBC, which paid $3.55 billion for the exclusive North American media rights to the 2000-2008 Games. Swimming is a big draw for American audiences and the U.S. team led by Michael Phelps, who won six gold medals in Athens in 2004, enjoy a great rivalry with the Australian team. Verbruggen denied that broadcaster pressure had motivated the decision. "And I would like to stress because we have been able to read a lot that this was the IOC - that is, name it as it was - was meeting the requests, or the IOC was giving in to the requests of the pressure of certain broadcasters. And I would like to deny that," said Verbruggen. Although media freedom has been a hot button issue for foreign journalists working in China, Verbruggen said the IOC was not worried it would be an issue during the 2008 games. "For us, strange enough, it has not been a big topic between us and BOCOG, because BOCOG has and the authorities here have given us all the time the assurance that, as regards to the media reporting, that media would be able to do their work here just as they did in Athens, and Sydney, etc..." said Verbruggen. Verbruggen said environmental issues - particularly air pollution and solid waste disposal - have not yet been resolved. "The problem is that the economical boost, and the economical development of this country - and especially of course the Beijing area because that is where we are going to have the Olympics - is such that the problems are increasing. It is something that you have to take into account if you add one thousand cars every day on the roads in Beijing, every day," said Verbruggen. BOCOG's vice president said the city was considering a slew of measures to ease traffic congestion and pollution problems in time. "Whether or not we should construct a special Olympic lane on the roads, or encourage the people to use the public transportation system, or whether to control the cars on the street in some way. I think in making these decisions we are not only trying to meet the transportation needs of the Olympic Games, but at the same time we will try to reduce the impact on the local residents as much as possible," said Jiang Xiaoyu (pron: djee-ahng hsee-ow yoo), vice president of BOCOG. Beijing announced last month that its citizens will not be allowed to park at 2008 Olympic venues as part of government plans to discourage the use of private cars during the Games. Beijing will also open 210 kilometres of special Olympics traffic lanes connecting different Olympic sites to ensure officials and athletes will arrive in time for the events.

ITN Source | October 27, 2006

Tags:. .encourage. .lanes. .commissions. .citizens. .twisted