Date/Time: 4:00 p.m. Thursday, April 10, 2008

Venue: Beijing Olympic Media Centre (No.55, Chaoyangmennei Street)

Wang Hui:

We just had a press conference at 8AM today and here are having another one tonight. I guess a busy day.

Today is a special conference which is the iconic one of all the venues, the National Stadium – the Bird's Nest. All these venues have been completed except for Bird's Nest.

Now the construction for bird's nest is nearly complete and in mid April we will have the first test event, the Beijing 2008 Race Walking Challenge. The venue team from the stadium is here, the manager Mr. Zhang Jiandong, Mr. Shen Chunde, the executive vice manager, and Mr. Chen Shuxun, the vice manager of the media relations.

They are here to brief you on the Race Walking Challenge. First let's welcome Mr Zhang Jiandong. He will talk about preparations for this event.

Zhang Jiandong:

Thank you, Ms. Wang. Friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I'm delighted to meet you here and to give you a preview on the Beijing 2008 BBM IAAF Race Walking Challenge.

The Challenge will take place on April 18 and 19. On April 18 we have Men's 20 km and Women's 20 km in the morning. On April 19 we have Men's 50 km in the morning. This will be the first test event at the National Stadium. This is the debut for the venue and also a task for our venue team. We will commence system contingency plans and see where we should improve. The organizing committee has been working since last October and we have been following our plans in doing preparations. Now I would like to brief you on our progress in preparations and later our colleague will take your questions.

First games organization. Now the entry for this event is over. We have athletes from 10 countries, 33 international athletes and 3 world top 10 athletes. Competition organizations have been developed. We have developed a contingency plan for games services. 180 media organizations and 1129 journalists from China and other countries have submitted their accreditation applications for this Challenge. The number of accredited journalists this time is more than that of any test event held before.

We will receive 600 guests from home and abroad and 25,000 spectators. It will be a test for our facilities and volunteer team. We have also been working with plans to provide detailed services. We have received great support from venue general contractor and supervisor by end of January. BOCOG started technical systems late March. Offices for some venue teams were delivered on March 31, with venue teams then moving in. All of this took place in parallel with venue work, and difficulties were overcome to support this event.

We have defined our security plans many times. We have special positions such as armed police, entrance control, VIP area control, and others. In mid March we started to deploy security forces. After many rounds of discussion and review we have confirmed game time resources on our budget. We have signed positions for 2,000 volunteers and 2,800 contractors and have incorporated them into our accreditation system. We have assigned positions for them. Now paid staff are in place and volunteers have received first round training. Some contractor staff are in place.

BBMG Group is our sponsor. We have developed, with support from all parties, an operation scheme and printed hard copies. This includes general plans, specific and detailed venue operation plans and testing plans of the central zone, and training programs have also been developed. We also have daily running schedules based on game times. The venue office will be coordinating key dates and timelines. We hope that by hosting this event we will be able to define our services and build a solid ground.

Wang Hui:

Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Our next speaker is Mr. Shen Chunde, the deputy venue manager. He will cover the competition site.

Shen Chunde:

Good afternoon. We have 8 days to go to the opening of the event. Our preparations are going well as planned. Our international and Chinese technical officials will arrive in 5 days and athletes will move into the Olympic Village 2 days in advance. The event will use the Olympic track and all refereeing and timing will use the same system as during game times.

We will have Men's 20 km at 9 a.m. and Women's at 3 p.m. The next day will be the Men's 50 km competition.

For this event we have 138 athletes from Australia, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Tunisia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Mexico and China – altogether ten countries.

Specifically we have 53 athletes for Men's 20 km and 39 for Men's 50 km, and 46 for women's 20 km, about the same scale as the Olympic Games.

Among the Chinese players we have Zhu Hongjun from Liaoning who won 6th place for the Men's 20 km in Athens 2004. Among the women competitors, we have one Women's 10,000 meters champion—Liu Hong. Among international athletes we have Men's 20 km top player, Luke Adams, the Australian player, and the 4th ranking Mexico athlete, and 6th ranking Tunisia athlete.

China has been hosting this challenge since 2004 and this will be 5th time competition in Beijing. The scale is the same every year, with athletes from about 10 countries. Here I want to show you the game time route.

First, we do three laps in the stadium and then go through the tunnel to the avenue and the Olympic Village. Then they will cover nine 2-kilometer laps and nine 20-kilometer laps and four 50-kilometer laps. We will return via the tunnel to the stadium and reach the finish line.

That's about the competition. Thank you.

Wang Hui:

Thank you Mr. Shen. Just now Mr Zhang said that we have over 1,200 journalists applying to cover the event and we are happy to see that media services are a top priority for the venue team. Now the media manager, Mr Chen Shuxun will brief you on services and facilities available to journalists.

Chen Shuxun:

I'm delighted to be here to brief you on media operations and services. I noticed that many of you have signed up for this event, so welcome. Games Time Media Operations are an important area for BOCOG according to our contract with the IOC. At games practices, we want to provide quality services and facilities to the media and for this, we toured the venue. The Media Team will be providing high-level services to journalists. Up to now we have 1,129 journalists who've applied, including 432 journalists from radio and television, 218 photo-journalists, and about 307 press journalists. They come from about 100 media agencies from 22 countries and regions. We also have over 700 journalists from home. For television and radio broadcast media there will be a broadcast area, we will have press photo room, and we will have a media lunch where we provide refreshments.

Also we will have media seating at Tier 1. The main broadcaster will not be broadcasting, so that commentary area will be open to the press.

Afterward athletes will pass by two areas: one near the seating area for TV broadcasting and another one in the main course area for photo and press. After the winning ceremony, we will have an interview at the press conference hall to facilitate journalists' work. At the press workroom, we have TVs, telephones, fax machines, printers, an information desk and other services. At tables, we will have sockets and will provide drinking water. For photojournalists we will have special stands and positions.

Our Media Services Team provides background information on athletes. Other information services at the media center will be open two days before the competition. The running hours are two hours before the competition opens--that's on the 18th--until three hours after the competition. On the18th we have two sessions: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The center will be open on the whole day of the 18th of April.

Now about the traffic flow for the media. First for media cars: for some media agencies we will provide a parking pass. Maybe not all media agencies can get it.

At our parking lot, they will go through security access to the Central Zone. Then we will have a shuttle because many of you may have equipment. The shuttle will take you to the main course and then you're just 100 meters away from the media area. In August, eight events will simultaneously take place at the Central Zone: synchronized swimming in the Watercube and fencing in the National Conference Center, so journalists may report at multiple venues at once. When you come back to the National Stadium you may follow this route (green line) to the venue. We also have shuttles for the media during game times. We will have a shuttle from the media hotel to the stadium.

This time we used Long Xiang as the media hotel. Some of you may not stay there. Long Xiang is near the East entrance hall of the Olympic Sports Center, so you can park your car there towards the street and get on board that shuttle. The running hours for the shuttle starts at seven in the morning, and from the hotel it is about twenty minutes in travel. After the competition we have a shuttle which will take you back to your hotel and you can get your car at the Olympics Sports Center.

I would now like to explain accreditation. In April we have eight Beijing events. A lot of journalists will come to the accreditation center. The Organizing Committee has been working very hard but still we're overwhelmed by the number of journalists. There may be a little delay, but we will try to deliver accreditation as soon as possible. Be sure it won't affect your reporting.

Media services are a huge part of what we will be testing at this event. This event is not just a sporting event, this is a good opportunity to become acquainted with the National Stadium. I welcome you there.

Thank you for all of these introductions that told us what's going on at the test event. Now for your questions.