Beijing checks last-minute Olympic preparation

The host city of the 29th Summer Olympic Games is going through every details of its seven-year-long preparation amid 10-day's countdown hastens the venues, staffs and even weather controllers.

Despite suffering overseas torch-relay disruptions, deadly earthquake and soaring inflation, China never stops marching steadily toward the nation's century Olympic dream as the President Hu Jintao has ordered to desperately secure the success of the Games.

Hoping to embrace the world with more involvements by the sports feast, China is honoring its commitment with last-minute checks by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG).

The Olympic Village for the Games welcomed its first delegation of Chinese athletes on Sunday, marking the start of official arrival of the athletes who diversely spent their time before competition.

Enjoying Chinese cultural folk arts demonstrated in the village, athletes from Indonesia, Israel, Canada and the United States have experienced Chinese language learning.

"The food here tastes very good and there are many entertaining facilities including Internet bars," 20-year-old Hector Fuentes told Xinhua. The Cuban triple jumper on his first Olympic trip said the village had gone beyond his expectation.

Swimmers from about ten countries came to the National Aquatic Center, known as Water Cube, on Monday morning to test the pool and adapt themselves for the finals to be held in the morning.

More than 20 Japanese swimmers became the biggest group who jumped into the pool and trained for nearly four hours.

Kosuke Kitajima, the 200 meters breaststroke world record keeper, said he was satisfied with the accommodation in the Olympic Village and has fit himself well in Beijing.

Polish delegation became the first guest who arrived on Sunday at the Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport which was built specially for the August 8-24 Games.

Beginning its rush hours, the terminal received more than 1,000 passengers from around the world on Monday. "It will be the busiest time for the airport from now to the initiation of the Games," Li Hongbo, an Olympic volunteer serves at the terminal said. "300 to 500 volunteers will provide eight-language services."

According to the staffs of the airport, it will witness the biggest volume of arrival on August 7 when an estimated 6,000 passengers of athletes, journalists and officials will land.

As the the deputy director of the Olympic Village, Deng Yaping said the last-minute preparation will be the welcoming ceremony for each Olympic delegation.

"Our ability will be tested during the 10 days before the Games' opening," Deng said. "The village has been in 24-hour operation to accommodate the guests."

Deng, a Chinese table tennis legend with four Olympic gold medals, became a sports official after retirement who has lobbied and promoted Beijing's Games worldwide.

"Especially every transitional factor and process of the delegation's reception for so many countries and regions, we will try to make the operation as smooth as possible.

"There are so many concerns to need me. More than 70 advance teams have arrived at the village who will also make preparations for the total 16,000 athletes and officials before the opening ceremony," Deng told Xinhua on mobile when walking to meet some folk artists.

"All of the equipment in MPC is running in good condition," Xu Jicheng, deputy director of the Main Press Center (MPC) said in a hoarse voice. "It is an opportunity for us to test the operation of the media transport system for more and more journalists and photojournalists came in.

"We will adjust the timetable of the media coaches according to the variable actual needs, and officials and engineers from local transport authorities have arrived to adapt the parking lot and pedestrian for extra large number of circulations going to occur during the games," he said.

While, the super powerful air-cooling system in the MPC has made some Chinese journalists freezing. Engineers holding laser temperature measurers cruised the boxes to listen to their needs.

"We will try best to satisfy every demand and will adjust the temperature to a comfortable level, but we have to keep a balance," the engineers said.

The recent haze that has covered Beijing for a few days seems to be the only embarrassment for the organizer, although Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, has revealed there had been 22 days without air pollution from July 1 to 25.

The authority has promised to keep an "eligible" air condition for the Olympic Games which has been a promise made by the Chinese government, adding that it will consider emergency measures by banning more cars and shutting down more factories if the air quality goes down during the games.

Beijing's organizers have also prepared for a special aircraft, satellite and radar to interfere possible rainfalls during the opening ceremony.

The BOCOG announced on Monday that all Olympic tickets in Beijing have been sold out, leaving few for the spectators in some co-hosting cities.

Zhang Jie, a 34-year-old doctor who lived in a community which is less than five minutes walk away from the National Stadium, told Xinhua that his family were so eager to get a ticket to the venue known as the Bird's Nest in which the opening ceremony will be held on August 8.

"As the games approaching, we can even hear the actors performing for the ceremony hailing and some fragment of the music, I can see sometimes the stadium glitters in red and blue since my building is so close to it," Mr. Zhang said.

"The streets and buildings are changing everyday as we witnessed for about seven years, I think when we see your journalists and various Olympic banners hanging on both sides of the road, the Games are coming."

The Bird's Nest, Water Cube and other venues inside and outside Beijing are pre-visited by hundreds of tourists who most of the time took pictures by using them as background views, yet, their insides have been ready for foreground showing ten days later.