Athens more than a sports arena for China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-08-30 07:50

As the Athens Olympics has been coming to a successful close on Sunday, the focus of the world will gradually shift to Beijing, the host city of the next Olympics.

China's national flag is raised during the closing ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 29, 2004. The next summer Olympic Games will be held in Beijing in 2008. [newsphoto]

China, who ranks second, only next to the United States, in the overall medals standings with 32 golds, 17 silvers and 14 bronze, is by far one of the leading sports powers in the world. But it has yet to prove its capability of hosting the world's largest sporting event.

If the Athens Olympics is anything special for China, it has at least provided the organizers of the 2008 Games much to learn.

As Beijing hopes to use the Games as a lens for the world to view China's historical heritages, the Athens Games has set a good example in combining Greek cultural and historical highlights with the sports extravaganza.

Shot put competition took place in ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, and the elegant Panathanaiko Stadium, originally constructed 2,300 years ago, has hosted the archery events and become the finish for Sunday's marathon race, the last event of the Games.

"These are unique Olympic experience," said Liu Qi, President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics (BOCOG).

"The splendid opening ceremony on the evening of Aug. 13 will be great inspiration in our own preparations," said Jiang Xiaoyu, BOCOG's Vice President.

The opening ceremony of the Athens Games won worldwide acclaim for its evocative tableau of 3,000 years of Greek history and culture. It registered a new record in TV viewing on a world scale, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Liu, who headed a BOCOG inspection team visiting the Aug. 13-29Games, also spoke highly of Athens' rapid city development.

"Athens has done an excellent job in upgrading its infrastructure over the past several years," he said.

The Olympics has indeed transformed Athens from a backward towninto a modern city.

Construction of a subway and other rail links were given high priority because of the Athens Olympics. A new airport was built in 2001, replacing the old seaside airfield. A brand new highway around the city also turned an hour stop-and-go trip into a 15-minute breeze.

With more than 1,000 extra cars hitting the Beijing streets every day and a forecast of 3.5 million cars in the city by 2008, traffic is considered one of the biggest challenges Beijing will face during the 17-day Olympics.

"The practice of dedicated-lanes for the Olympic Family is really worth learning," said Liu.

Traffic restrictions, including lanes reserved for a large fleet of Olympic Family vehicles and green lights for only authorized vehicles to park near stadiums, has played an importantrole in ensuring the smooth running of the Athens Olympics.

But the high cost of the Athens Olympics also requires Beijing to become more careful in monitoring its budget.

Greece is the smallest country to stage the Olympics since Finland in 1952. Athens struggled with construction delays and organizing blunders, falling behind schedule and even alarming theIOC to warn it of risking the loss of hosting rights.

Though Greece managed a turnaround and got everything ready before the start of the Games, the rising costs for venues and infrastructure projects, mainly due to double and triple shifts tomake up for lost time, and a soaring security budget, has driven the total spending up to at least 7 billion euros, according to the Greek government. The initial budget in 1997 was about 3.5 billion euros.

Keeping the principle of frugality in mind, Beijing organizers have halted the construction work on several Olympic venues, including the state-of-the-art National Stadium, earlier this month.

"We halted construction work mainly in order to optimize our design so that we can save the cost," BOCOG's Executive Vice President Liu Jingmin told a press conference here recently.

"But the new design would not affect the basic functions of thestadium," he added.

Expectations for a best-ever Olympics have run high throughout China since Beijing won the hosting right for the 2008 Games on July 13, 2001. But it would be a more daunting and complicated task to stage the Games than winning the bid.

Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said Athens Olympics turned out to be much better than expected and would set the bar higher for future Games.

"The Games are a great success, and they put the bar very high for Beijing 2008 Games," said the 84-year-old Spaniard.

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