CHINA: OLYMPICS - International Olympic Committee chief inspector Hein Verbruggen is impressed by the venue sites for the 2008 Games.

Record ID: 331854

  • Title: CHINA: OLYMPICS - International Olympic Committee chief inspector Hein Verbruggen is impressed by the venue sites for the 2008 Games.
  • Date: 19th May 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEIN VANBRUGGEN, IOC CHIEF INSPECTOR, SAYING: "We have guarantees by host, a city contract that journalists will be able to operate as in other games,in other countries."
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAEZOSFDBHRIXEP3GWVZD3A9BSP
  • Story Text: International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief inspector Hein Verbruggen said on Thursday (May 18, 2006) that visiting journalists at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will be free to do their job.
    He said Chinese authorities gave assurances that media freedom will be respected during Beijing Games.
    "We have guarantees by host, a city contract that journalists will be able to operate as in other games, in other countries," Verbruggen said.
    With the 2008 Olympic Games just two years away, the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York is greatly concerned about the Chinese government continuing crackdown on the media. The government's policies of the past three years had shown a trend that seemed likely to affect journalists reporting from Beijing in 2008.
    Vanbruggen, also on a tour of the construction sites of venues for the 2008 Games, said that he was impressed with what he had seen. Verbruggen chairs the IOC's coordination commission for the Beijing Games, which completed a three-day visit to China's capital for an update on the preparations for the Games.
    "It's an amazing combination of high-tech, of let's say Chinese, I would say inspired architecture and combination of that with high-tech capabilities of traditional Chinese design elements that we find back together with high-tech makes it really something stunnning," Verbruggen said.
    The commission visited the Olympic Green, where the showpiece main stadium with its "Bird's Nest" roof and the revolutionary "Water Cube" aquatics centre are taking shape, as well as the site of the athletes' village.
    Beijing organisers said in March they were confident they would complete all the venues on schedule by the end of 2007, well in time for pre-Games testing.
    The IOC commission will also make reports on communications, ceremonies, the environment and technology after their visit to Beijing.
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