Co-host cities pin hopes on Games
By Yu Yilei (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-20 06:05

Four more cities officially inked their status as co-hosts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics yesterday.

Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao are now all hoping their new status will bring urban renewal and renovation as well as international sporting recognition.

The four cities have already been named as venues for preliminary football matches and multi-million-dollar build-up projects had been launched before they signed the principle agreements yesterday, which officially confirmed their partnership with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

"Hosting the Olympic competitions will be a great opportunity for the development of Tianjin," Deputy Mayor Sun Hailin said.

All four cities have experience hosting international sports competitions. Shanghai has held sporting events such as Formula One auto racing and the Tennis Masters Cup. Tianjin and Shenyang frequently host major football matches, and Qinhuanghao recently hosted the Asian Women's Basketball Championships and World B-Class Cycling Championships.

But officials from the four cities believe that changes brought by the Olympics will be on a larger scale to anything that has gone before.

"I think the city will take on a new look," said Li Qinsheng, deputy mayor of Qinhuangdao.

Tianjin will have a new 80,000-seat stadium, and Shanghai and Shenyang will renovate their existing stadiums to reach Olympic standards.

Hong Kong became a co-host city of the 2008 Games when the International Olympic Committee nodded earlier this month.

(China Daily 07/20/2005 page2)

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