China Daily selects the highlights of Beijing's Olympic preparations over the last 12 months:

1: Beijing Games organizers held a series of celebrations to coincide with the one-year countdown to the 2008 Olympics on and around August 8.

Jacques Rogge, president of International Olympic Committee, presented Games invitations to various National Olympic Committees and Regional Olympic Committees at Beijing's Tian'anmen Square in the evening of August 8.

2: BOCOG unveiled the Beijing 2008 pictograms and designs for the Olympic medals and torch, both of which feature traditional Chinese cultural elements. The pictograms form ancient Chinese characters, while the medals are inlaid with jade. The torch for the Games is shaped like a paper scroll inscribed with traditional Chinese images of lucky clouds.

3: On April 26, BOCOG revealed its planned torch relay route for the Beijing Games. Lasting from March 24 to August 8, 2008, the relay will run for 130 days and travel 137,000 km through more than 130 cities across five continents. During the relay, mountaineers will scale the world's highest peak - Mount Qomolangma.

The Paralympic torch will travel on three routes simultaneously, including one overseas route and two domestic routes, from August 28 to September 6, 2008.

4: China began implementing a new rule covering the provisions on reporting activities in China by foreign journalists before and during the Beijing Olympic Games on January 1. It also released several media service guides to facilitate better coverage of the event.

5: Overwhelming demand crashed the computer system during the second stage of sales of Olympic tickets in October, as Beijing struggled to adopt a policy of "first come, first served." Organizers suspended the booking process and said they would again revert to a lottery system.

A total of seven million tickets for the Beijing Games are available to the general public, with nearly three quarters reserved for domestic consumption. The first batch of 1.6 million tickets was allocated via a lottery earlier this year.

6: From August 17 to 20, Beijing carried out a series of tests to improve traffic and air conditions in the city as a dress rehearsal for moves that will be put into play next summer. Cars and other vehicles were barred from the roads on alternate days depending on their registration plates (even-and odd-numbered plates were barred on successive days), a move that trimmed the daily traffic flow by about 1.3 million vehicles.

The traffic ban effectively improved the air quality in Beijing, moving it up to a "good" rating (an air pollution index of 50-100) on all four days.

7: Twenty-six "Good Luck Beijing" sport events took place in Beijing and other co-host cities like Hong Kong and Qingdao. The events saw the successful testing of the Olympic facilities, technical systems, venue teams, commanding system and city operations.

8: By the end of October, the number of applicants for the Olympic and Paralympic volunteer programs had reached 700,000. Of these, 870 have already served at this year's test events and have been confirmed as the first batch of Games-time volunteers.

9: China launched a world-class laboratory serving the Olympic Games in November as part of its efforts to assist the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The new lab, which is located next to the old headquarters of the China Anti-Doping Center, will face its first major task in August when some 4,500 doping tests will be carried out here during the Beijing Olympics.

10: In August, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies Operation Center of BOCOG announced that the creative work for both ceremonies had been completed, and that the production and implementation phases would begin soon.