Chinese characters sparkle in Beijing Olympic preparations

　

    By Sportswriter Zhang Han

    BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Exactly 100 days to go before the2008 Olympic Games, Beijing keeps pushing forward to carry out the promise at bidding of making a most memorable event as Chinese characters highlight every step of the preparation.

    Construction of venues, marketing program and recruitment of volunteers, as well as the design of the Olympic emblem, torch, mascots and medals, have all showcased the traditional aesthetic taste of China and the oriental value.

    The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) has prepared 37 venues for the August's medal competitions in 28 medal sports, among which the National Stadium and the National Aquatics Center, nicknamed the Water Cube due to its blue membrane that looks like bubble wrap, have been the most notable ones and won high praise from all sides.

    Known as the Bird's Nest, the National Stadium, with eye-catching structure of twisted steel beams, has been compared to a base for athletes to start "flying", and is reckoned a lucky sign by the Chinese with meanings of hope and future.

    "It's a wonderful combine of conception and connotation on an architecture, perfectly showing the traditional value and modern creativity of Asia," said Kwon Gye-hyun, the corporate vice president of the world's leading electronics producer and Olympics' TOP sponsor Samsung.

    The stadium has completed construction and been delivered for use at first test event on April 18 when most of visitors, citizens and foreigners, came with stirring mood at the first glimpse on the 91,000-seat architectural jewel of the Beijing Olympics.

    Apart from the effort by the Games' organizers, Olympic passion of the whole country has made the 2008 marketing an unprecedented successful one.

    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved last March for the first time in history the Beijing 2008 organizers to produce and to sell the tridimensional models of the Olympic torch, known as the "Lucky Cloud".

    Just hours after the leading batch of the models being put on sale in Beijing's central Olympic store, the commemorative products, made of odds off the steel beams building up the Bird's Nest and priced 2,900 RMB per piece, were sold out in a rush.

    Beijing is expected to publish its final operating budget for the August Olympic Games in May, with the cost likely below those of Athens Games four years ago, according to senior official of BOCOG.

    "The marketing campaign has come to a close, and the outlay of more than 2 billion U.S. dollars on the Games operation has been guaranteed basically," said Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of BOCOG, last month.

    It's been widely suspected, however, that the marketing operation could totally cover the costs of its bid for the 2008 Olympics, which means Beijing would not take a penny from the taxpayers to raise the Games.

    Since BOCOG launched the marketing program for the 2008 Games in 2003, more than 60 international and domestic corporations have taken part in the world's biggest sports festival in the globe's fastest growing market, while the Chinese IT giant Lenovo made history to join the 12-member TOP.

    The recruitment of volunteers also came out a workpiece with all the earmarks of Chinese characteristics, as the organizers were given a wide range of choices on the base of a big population.

    BOCOG said earlier this month that 1.126 million applications, including 22,000 from foreigners, had been received since last August when the application period opened, while only 100,000 volunteers are needed.

    About 70,000 for the Olympics and about 30,000 for the Paralympics will serve as volunteers, both exceeding the figures from the Athens Olympics, which had held the record for applicants and volunteers.

    The application period ended on March 31.

    About 160,000 volunteer applications were received before the 2004 Athens Olympics and 60,000 people were chosen.