The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) on Tuesday started to train a total of 67 new staff members who will work at its Media Operations Department.

Selected from 70 news media organizations operated in one third of the country's administrative divisions, the specialized personnel are expected to be assigned to venue teams to enhance management for written media and photographers.

The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are expected to see the largest accredited media contingent in the Olympic history. Media operations teams are committed to providing sufficient facilities and thorough services for over 20,000 accredited journalists.

The newly-recruited staff members have an average age of 32. Most of them have a professional experience and some of them even covered the previous editions of the Olympic Games and Football World Cup competitions. They possess knowledge of certain sports and are able to communicate in foreign languages.

In the three-month selection process, the local and central media organizations recommended 251 applicants to undergo written examinations and face-to-face interviews, and finally 67 stood out.

Commending the recruitment process as an innovative move, BOCOG Executive Vic-President Jiang Xiaoyu believed that it reflected the nation-wide support for the Olympic Games. "They will leave a human resources legacy for future media and communications sector," he told the opening session of the training workshop.