 Short Takes
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-04 07:39 Beijing Decisions respected China respects the decision of National Olympic Committees regarding invitations to their national leaders, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said yesterday. "According to the relevant regulations of the International Olympic Committee and the conventional practice of the Olympic Games, the head of the state and the head of the government can participate in Olympic-related activities as registered guests at the invitation of their country's National Olympic Committee," Liu said. His remarks appear to be a reminder to some political figures that attendance to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics is not seen as paying homage to the Chinese government. 4 b TV viewers More than 4 billion people worldwide are expected to watch the Olympic Games on TV, a senior executive of the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Corporation (BOB) said. BOB will produce live broadcast signals for 5,400 hours, much more than the 3,400 during the 2004 Athens Games. All events as well as the opening and closing ceremonies will be broadcast in high definition. Food safety Electronic codes will be used to monitor the quality of food supplied to the Olympic Games, Pu Changchen, vice-director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said. He said food supplied to the Olympic Village, Games' organizers, officials and journalists will be strictly monitored. Qingdao Fenced off The government is erecting a fence along the Olympic sailing competition area to prevent more algae from entering. It aims to clean up the area by July 15. The fence, 32,000 m long and covering 50 sq km, will be completed by July 15, the government said yesterday. Up to yesterday, 2400 m had already been erected. The Qingdao government has mobilized more than 10,000 residents, 1,000 boats and 200 trucks to clean up the algae, Xia Geng, mayor of the city, said. By Wednesday, they had removed more than 180,000 tons. Tianjin Naming of squad Shang Ruihua, coach of the Chinese women's soccer team, said yesterday he will name his squad for the Games on July 23. The team is in Tianjin to play two warm-up games against Australia on Sunday and Wednesday. The team will then go on to Qinhuangdao for further training. "We have to pay attention to three points in Tianjin - to enhance the players' physical condition, fine-tune tactics and avoid injuries in the matches," Shang said. Uganda African team set Uganda's sports delegation to the Games is scheduled to depart on July 28, Uganda Olympics Committee (UOC) President Francis Nyamgweso said. "The Olympic village opens on July 27 and our team will leave a day after so that they will be there on July 29. We have decided to send our team early so that members can acclimatize," Nyamgweso said. Greece Flag carrier named Greek Olympic judo champion Ilias Iliades will carry the Greek flag at the Beijing Olympics next month, the Hellenic Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday. Iliades, who won the gold medal in his event during the Athens Games, will be the first athlete to enter the Olympic Stadium on Aug 8 as Greece is traditionally the first nation to parade at start of every Olympiad. China Daily - Xinhua (China Daily 07/04/2008 page6) |
