Beijing 2008
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Over 75,000 volunteers
Sunday, August 3rd, 5 days until the Games begin! This weekend thousands of volunteers have started their work in the city. The Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) got applications from over a million people – students as well as older people, Chinese as well as foreigners - to volunteer for the Olympic and/or the Paralympic Games. However, only 75,000 are needed for the Olympics and about 30,000 for the Paralympics. In sporty blue and white outfits they welcome athletes, officials, journalists and tourists at the airport. Others are stationed throughout the city to help visitors with matters such as traffic directions. Some of them are a still a little uncomfortable, waiting for questions, and in small groups practice their English. Others are already quite busy explaining how the new subway lines and ticketing system operate. Most welcome! They could explain very clearly where to go for the Holland Heineken House (as long as I asked for the ‘Agricultural Exhibition Center’, where the Holland House is located! That might be different in a week from now…)
Citius, Altius Fortius
Friday, August 1st, with 7 days to go, the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ is on top of my mind. It was used by Pierre de Coubertin to describe the goals of great athletes all over the world. Everything surrounding the Olympic Games seems to be driven by breaking records. The torch relay is the longest ever. This Olympics’ doping control organization is the biggest (and toughest) ever. Many countries will send their largest delegation ever (including the Netherlands). And as of today China has its fastest train ever. With a velocity of 350 kilometers per hour it cuts the travel time from Beijing to Tianjin with 70 minutes to only 30 minutes. Tianjin is a co-host city of the Beijing Games, where soccer games will take place. The train and specific railway have been constructed to provide speed and convenient railway services to accommodate the Olympics need. Almost 90 per cent of the railway is constructed on bridges which considerably shortens the distance. The train will depart every 3(!) minutes during rush hour. Record breaking has already begun.
Sneak preview
Thursday, July 31st, 8 days to go and the topic of the day is the unauthorized release of a sneak preview of the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, 8 days from now, on 8/8/8, is considered top secret. Many, maybe thousands of people, have been involved for some years now. The last rehearsals took place in the Olympic stadium, the ‘Bird’s Nest’. As always, the show has been a very closely guarded secret, to be able to surprise the world on the night of the ‘grand gala’. Everyone involved has signed confidentiality agreements… and now a few minutes footage of the latest rehearsal has appeared on Korean television, immediately followed by several websites. The Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG) was ‘not amused’, to put it mildly. The complete opening ceremony will last more than 3.5 hours… plenty of time for surprises.
Blue sky above the city
Tuesday, July 29th, (with another 10 days to go!) the Olympic host city is no longer shrouded in haze … or was it smog? Many efforts have been taken to fight pollution in the city: from closing building sites and factories to far fetching traffic restrictions imposed from last week. The so called even/odd license plate rule applies, with even and odd number plates to hit the roads on alternate days only. Are all these efforts really working? Officials say the sky is cleaning up due to these restrictions. Many people are still worried and don’t expect that the air quality will sufficiently improve in the next 10 days. Humidity is almost 90%, so that doesn’t help. However, today the weather itself does help – and does not hurt the situation. A front has come through, pushing away the hazy air above the city. Rain showers and a strong breeze are followed by some blue sky. And what if this weather improvement is just temporary and the traffic arrangements are ‘too little, too late’? Well, if nothing really improves the situation, why not just ban all the cars from the road and fall back on the millions of bicycles that once made Beijing so famous…
Calm before the storm
Monday, July 28th, with 11 days to go to the opening of the Games it is still rather quiet in Beijing… This might be the so-called calm before the storm. The city is getting ready: brand new Olympic flags are attached to every lamppost, flowerbeds along the roads look fresh and colorful. Banners above the streets say ‘Beijing Welcomes You’. Official sponsors are finalizing their promo stands and unwrapping their latest billboards. However, people go to work as on every normal working day and so far there are only a few cars using the special Olympic lanes. The city is awaiting its guests!
Olympic Village opened
Sunday, July 27th, 12 days before the Games, the Olympic Village was officially opened. This huge complex of 42 apartment buildings will host 16,000 competitors and officials during the Games. Over 2,000 foreign and Chinese chefs and waiters will offer catering in the village, with (only!) 30 per cent of the cuisine being Asian. After the official ceremony, the first athletes to check in were the Chinese followed by a handful of foreigners. It is expected that most competitors will arrive at the end of this week or even over the weekend. Will this give them enough time to adjust to Beijing’s warm summer?
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