- Title: CHINA: Chinese Olympic host cities say they are ready for the coming summer games
- Date: 18th July 2008
- Summary: QINGDAO, CHINA (FILE) (REUTERS) TRAFFIC AND TORCH ALONG ROAD TORCH VARIOUS OF QINGDAO OLYMPIC SAILING CENTRE SAILING BOATS ON THE SEA PEOPLE STANDING AROUND BOATS AND CONTAINERS AT THE BACKGROUND SAILOR AND SAILING BOAT VARIOUS OF OLYMPIC FLAG, SAILING BOAT AND PEOPLE
- Embargoed: 2nd August 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVAA26NKKYVD4XX5Z1TQUBSG3QHL
- Story Text: With only 21 days left before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, host cities outside Beijing are wrapping up with their Olympic preparations.
Qingdao, the host city for the Olympic Games sailing competition for August 9-23 has eleven events. Eleven gold medals will come out of Qingdao.
Some 400 athletes from 65 countries are scheduled to participate. A massive algae bloom threatened the Olympic Games sailing venue at the coastal resort.
The picturesque seaside city in northern China's Shandong province had been embarrassed by the unsightly algae that left swathes of offshore waters green and disrupted training for a number of Olympic sailing teams ahead of next month's Games.
Zang Aimin, vice mayor of Qingdao, said the algae bloom has now almost been cleared.
"The algae in the sea and around the venues has been basically cleared. Qingdao has altogether more than 550 athletes from 46 countries training here. At the moment, there are still more than 100 ships from 33 countries training in the city. They are not affected." Zang said.
In a press conference held by Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, officials from Olympic host cities sat together to brief reporters on their latest preparation of the coming games.
Chen Qiwei, spokesman of Shanghai Municipal Government, said police have deployed powers for patrol, fixed-point control, anti-terrorism in addition to detailed security protection plans.
"Shanghai has been having anti-terrorism and anti - riot practices. We will have army coming in assisting us with Olympic security work. During the games, Shanghai command of Nanjing Military base together with Shanghai police will cooperate to take charge of the security." Chen said.
Thirty days before the Beijing Games open, China's Vice President Xi Jinping told a "mobilisation" rally that security is the single most important factor in hosting a successful Olympics.
China has long identified terrorism as the biggest threat to the Games and state media on Wednesday said police had shot dead five people who wanted to wage "holy war" in the troubled western region of Xinjiang, home to 8 million Muslim Uighurs.
Lam Woon-Kong, CEO of the Equestrain Company, said for Hong Kong, food safety was high on agenda.
"Food safety is a high priority. Our food authority has been working with the hotels and the venue caterer to uphold the highest hygiene standard for meals to be served to Olympic participants." Lam said.
Hong Kong will deploy up to 4,000 police officers to secure the city's Olympic equestrian events next month, although the overall security threat is deemed moderate, according a senior police officer.
Hong Kong will host Olympic equestrian jumping, dressage and eventing from Aug. 9-21 after Beijing failed to establish a disease-free zone for horses. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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