Special supplement: Macao gets into Olympic spirit

On the morning of May 3, the flame of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games arrived in Macao, the last stop outside the Chinese mainland - just after its journey across 20 cities around the world. It was the first time in history for Macao to welcome the Olympic flame.

Enthusiastic local residents welcomed the flame by waving paddles and rowing dragon boats. When the Olympic torch met the dragon boats, this greatly excited residents of this 400-year-old city.

Even though Macao's athletes could not get the chance to participate in the Beijing Olympic Games, which is partly due to some unsettled questions about its membership of the International Olympic Committee, all of Macao's residents have been welcoming the Beijing Olympic Games in different ways.

Starting from 1999, the local government has been playing a significant role in promoting sport-related activities. Macao has made great efforts to provide the best facilities and a good training environment for athletes.

From early last month, hundreds of athletes from eight countries began to arrive in Macao for training and preparations for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, enjoying excellent training facilities in Macao.

On February 9 last year, Macao Sport Development Board (MSDB) signed an agreement with the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee to further promote mass sports and sports-related cooperation between Macao and Beijing.

Since then, Olympic-related activities have hit the headlines in Macao, with the local government organizing the Beijing Olympic Book Exhibition, the Olympic Sculpture Show and other large-scale events.

In recent years, Macao has already hosted several sports meetings, such as the 2005 East Asian Games and the Asian Indoor Games.

The increasing number of sport-related activities had shown the huge potential of Macao's sports industry. As a result, more and more young people are taking up sports.

In the summer last year, MSDB organized a summer camp to encourage sports contacts between young people from Beijing and Macao. A group of Macao's young people went to Beijing to learn more about the preparatory work for the Beijing Olympic Games and deepen their understanding of Olympic-related issues.

In March 2008, two young representatives, on behalf of Macao's youth, participated in the Beijing Olympic Youth Camp, experiencing the Olympic spirit together with young people from around the world.

After the launch of the volunteer enrollment plan for the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Paralympics, more than 2,000 citizens applied to be volunteers.

Meanwhile, in recent years, sports-related activities have contributed a lot to promoting the city's sports tourism.

The International Dragon Boat Race, the Macao Grand Prix, the Macao Golf Open, marathons and women's volleyball games have attracted a great deal of attention from visitors from home and abroad.

The local government has been engaged in boosting the sports education of Macao's students, ensuring local athletes receive professional training and helping introduce more top-level coaches.

So far, Macao has shown its superiority in dragon boat racing, the Chinese martial art of wushu, kickboxing and taekwondo, all of which indicate the city's vigor and enthusiasm.

The city will hold more activities to create more opportunities for its people to be involved in the Games.

(China Daily 08/08/2008 page56)