China vows safe Olympics

Officials from the Beijing Olympic Security Coordination Office demonstrated security checks on individuals and cars. It also showed the workings of the security control room for one of the stadiums. Many analysts predict that China will top the medals table at the Games next Augus

Beijing 2008 cheerleaders compete

China's youngsters compete hard to become Olympic cheerleaders where judges are looking for a bit of tradition in the performances.

Serb Ivanovic eyes world number one position

Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic believes that she is on the right way to win the Grand Slam title and able to reach the world number one rankings in future after her slump to the top seed Justine Henin of Belgium 6-1, 6-2 in the French Open final on Saturday.

"For sure, I have ambitions to win Grand Slams and reach a position of number one, but I think this was a great experience for me. And in order to reach that, I have to go through these situations and through lot of tough matches, and also dealing with the nerves and the pressure," said the world number seven.

"I think I am working on the right way and I will keep doing what I am doing."

Appearing in the first Grand Slam final of her young career, Ivanovic just posed challenge towards Henin in the first two games of the match and struggled poorly throughout the remaining time, making 31 unforced errors to 14 of Henin and five double faults to just one of her opponent.

"She's been there before, and she won grand slams many times before so she knew how to deal with the nerves. For me, that was the first time.

"And obviously, I wanted to perform well. And I felt really good through the whole tournament, so I wanted to show my best again today. And I was little bit overexcited, and maybe even trying to do too much.

"I can actually learn from Justine, because she's such a great champion. And I'm sure she was nervous as well, but she just dealt with that better than I did today. And I can learn from her."

Ivanovic said that she struggled with her ball toss in her opening service game and that got her concentration completely off her mind.

"On 40-15 in that game I, all of a sudden, started feeling nervous, and my ball toss was going everywhere, so I couldn't really control it. I start to think more about that instead of my game."

"Even when I had some chances to come back, and I played a few good points, she was there. She didn't give me much of a window, and it was tough."

Ivanovic has high hopes for the grass season after reaching her best-ever result in a grand slam and proving this year to be one of the best young players on the WTA tour with a title in Berlin.

"I think my game can be really good on grass. And especially now, I try to come more often to the net," she said. "So hopefully, that will be very good for Wimbledon."

"Obviously, this result here and in Berlin is going to help me a lot with my confidence, and also getting into big tournaments again." (Xinhua)

NGOs and sports world on same track for sustainability

© IOC/Richard Juilliart

Environmental organisations and sports organisations have increasingly matching agendas when it comes to sustainability. It is about making sport more sustainable, and sustainability more relevant. And it is about joining forces through partnerships. This was confirmed by today's presentations by environmental NGOs such as Greenpeace and the WWF, which showcased their initiatives in the context of the Olympic Games at the 7th World Conference on Sport and the Environment, currently taking place in Beijing, China.






Towards "Green Olympics"

All of the NGOs present have been working with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Organising Committee (BOCOG), and all of them are aiming towards a "Green Olympics". Lo Sze Ping, Campaign and Communications Director from Greenpeace China, stressed that it was important for Greenpeace to contribute to the Games' success by offering solutions to environmental challenges. In addition to its close cooperation with BOCOG, Greenpeace has teamed up with Coca Cola, Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Movement, for Beijing 2008. Their common project of setting up 6,000 ozone-friendly and climate-friendly coolers and 350 corresponding vending machines in all official venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, during their 10-year life span, will have an effect comparable to taking 218,000 cars off the road during the two weeks of the 2008 Olympic Games. For Lo Sze Ping, the trilateral partnership between a sponsor, an NGO and an Organising Committee is a success story which, for Beijing, will leave a legacy far beyond 2008.






Involving the population is key

Involving the population in their environmental campaigns and projects in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games was unanimously described as key by the NGOs: be it encouraging Beijing's citizens to have a car-free day, teaching them how to reduce dust pollution and to avoid wasting water, implementing awareness-raising campaigns in schools or holding lectures for students. WWF China representative, Dermot O'Gorman, highlighted the WWF's "20 ways to 20%" nationwide awareness campaign, which aims to complement China’s goal to reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2020. Twenty tips on how to be environmentally friendly on a day-to-day basis are being widely advertised on public spaces all over China. The campaign will run until the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, but the awareness switch will have benefits long after the Closing Ceremony.






Looking beyond 2008
Both, Greenpeace and the WWF have already worked with Olympic Games Organising Committees in the past, and both are already looking beyond 2008. The WWF supports the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games in shaping their sustainability policies, such as for reducing the environmental impact of the venue constructions and finding clever transport solutions. It is about respecting the environment in Games planning and operations – from the beginning of a city's desire to stage the Olympic Games through to the long-term effects of those Games.

Penultimate Coordination Commission Visit

© Getty

18 October 2007

With the Beijing Games now only 10 months away, the IOC’s Coordination Commission for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will visit the Chinese capital for the ninth time next week. Under the leadership of Commission Chairman Hein Verbruggen, the members of the Commission will meet with their Beijing Organising Committee (BOCOG) counterparts to fully understand the state of BOCOG’s progress as the Games approach and also to review the lessons learned, so far, from the Good Luck Beijing Sports Events that have already taken place.

Equestrian Events in 2008

Ahead of their visit to Beijing, some members of the Commission will pay a visit to Hong Kong in order to get a first-hand view of the venues that will be used during the Beijing 2008 equestrian events. These venues were already tried and tested during last August’s Good Luck Beijing HKSAR 10th Anniversary Celebration Invitation Cup Eventing Competition, and were highly praised by competitors for their quality.

Sport & Environment

Following on directly from the Coordination Commission meetings, the IOC and BOCOG, in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will hold the 7th World Conference on Sport and the Environment in Beijing. This forum will enable an exchange of knowledge between the sporting world, NGOs and environmental specialists about the different ways that sport is looking after the environment that it affects and that it is affected by. Under the motto “From Plan to Action”, the focus of the conference will lie in translating opportunities into practical action to ensure a sustainable future.

Beijing 2008

The Games of the XXIX Olympiad – Beijing 2008 will take place from 8 to 24 August 2008. The Games in Beijing will play host to the 28 summer sports currently on the Olympic programme. Approximately 10,500 athletes are expected to participate in the Games with around 20,000 accredited media bringing the Games to the world.
information Form: http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/full_story_uk.asp?id=2354