With hosts China lifting the 2007 women's soccer invitational
event trophy on Tuesday evening, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao
satisfactorily completed their task and stood the test at a
rehearsal for the 2008 Olympic Games.
The event served as a testing ground for all aspects of the
organization of the Olympic Games soccer events, such as reception
services, safety and security, transportation, medical care,
broadcasting, volunteering and weather forecasting services.
Less than 400 days to go ahead of the Beijing Games, the
tournament sent a strong message that the 2008 Olympic soccer
events are in good hands, at least partially.
"I think it's a successful tournament. Even seeing from a
rigorous standard, the whole event were going smoothly and
well-organized, which give everybody coming here a confident vote
for next year's Olympic Games in Beijing," said Thailand's
assistant team manager Khajohnkiat Nipatpokai.
"My staff and players all found no oversights in match
arrangement, accommodation, transportation, as well as security
guard," he added.
Four women's soccer teams participated in the warming-up event
for September's World Cup on Chinese soil, as China were joined by
Italy, Mexico and Thailand in Shenyang and Qinhuangdao, both
holding matches of next year's Olympic soccer competitions.
The two venues, Qinhuangdao's Olympic Center Stadium and
Shenyang's newly-completed Wulihe Stadium, were highly praised by
the participators and visitors.
"It's perfect. We all felt lucky to have a chance to play on
such beautiful pitches," said Mexico's team manager Lepe Villarreal
Gerardo.
He was echoed by his counterpart of the Italian side. Elide
Martini told press: "The stadiums both look gorgeous and the
pitches, my players told me, felt so good. It's maybe two of the
best stadiums I've seen."
The Qinhuangdao's competitive and training pitches had been
washed by rain for two days before the tourney unveiled on July 1,
but it seemed that the drainage system worked efficiently and no
complaints were heard from the team.
"We did not feel any thing uncomfortable about it. It's not
affected by the rain at all," said Italian coach Pietro Ghedin
after last Sunday's opener.
To mock an Olympic formulary, the tourney was carried out on
four competition days and all participators had to twice take a
shuttle race between the two cities during a ten-day period.
In solving travel problems, the organization committees reserved
on non-competition days a special carriage for the teams at the
China Railway High-Speed (CRH), so-called the D-capital train,
which was voted confidence by all the exciting soccer staff.
"I felt good. It's very comfortable and convenient," said Marika
Domanski-Lyfors, head coach of Chinese women's national soccer
team.
"Many of us had been worried that the travels would weighed the
players down after a fatiguing match. But It just took two hours to
cover such a long distance between Qinhuangdao and Shenyang," said
China's team manager Li Feiyu.
"We could even take a nap on the train, and no one was bothered
by the travel," he added.
Italy and Thailand made their trips by D-capital train together
with Chinese team, while Mexico taking a bus, and they all thumbed
up for the well-arranged trips and none appeared frustrated in the
following training sessions after arrival.
Also there's no security worry should be raised for the
venues.
Respectively 3,000 and 5,000 security forces in Qinhuangdao and
Shenyang had been deployed in line with the public functions as
well as the amount of spectators, and security check on spectators
were done thoroughly with bags and plastic bottles forbidden to be
taking inside the stadiums.
"It's a good opportunity for us to get familiar with the venues
and atmosphere, as well as the working content in organizing an
Olympic-standard event. Through the organization of such
international competitions, we can discover problems and accumulate
useful experience for the upcoming 2008 Games," said Xu Dadi,
director of the Shenyang Zone Organizing Committee for the 29th
Beijing Olympic Games.
"If the whole work here should be evaluated with 100 points on
standard for a successful Olympic Games competition, I think we've
done 80 percent of it," he commented on the organizing job done for
the just concluded women's soccer tournament.
(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2007)