"Good Luck Beijing" will kick off in August. Not the latest slogan building up the Olympics but a series of sport events designed to put the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games venues and facilities, a source from the Olympic organizing committee of the events said on Wednesday.

 

With just over a year to go until the Olympics, 2007 will mark a determinant focal point in the Games preparations. "The venues and facilities need to be tested while the staff and volunteers need to be trained," said Yang Shu'an, Executive Vice-President, BOCOG at the conference.

 

According to Yang, the testing events will cover 42 tournaments for 28 summer Olympic events and two Paralympics events, all of which will go on at the very Beijing Olympic and Paralympics Games venues and training areas at which the veritable events will take place.

 

The 2007 schedule will see eight fixture tournaments organized by international sports federations accompanied by 18 opens and friendly tournaments with six more fixture tournaments to proceed in 2008, including the FINA World Cup and FINA Olympic synchronized swimming qualifications in the National Aquatics Center, nicknamed the "Water Cube".

 

Yang also specified that the specific organizing committee would ensure all testing events meet the rules and standards of the concerned international sports committees.

 

A collection of websites have opened, one for the organizing committee of the testing events itself and five more providing information about the events, including ticket details. (http://www.goodluckbeijing.com.cn/en/)

 

30 Olympic venues and 46 training areas in Beijing and 4 venues in other cities are to be used with the Games' equestrian facility in Hong Kong to face the test.

 

According to Yang, the two equestrian venues in Hong Kong are coming together smoothly with procedures finalized for the transport and quarantine of the horses.

 

"We are getting ready to meet any challenge from the testing events," said Yang, "We will try our best to have our facilities well tested and guarantee the events go smoothly as well."

 

(China Daily March 22, 2007)