One of the Beijing Olympic Games legacies left for China
will be a number of sport management talents, said the organizers
on Tuesday.
The Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games
(BOCOG) appointed 28 Chinese competition managers, who will become
part of the sport management talent pool after the Games, said
Zhang Jilong, director of the Sports Department of BOCOG.
"All of the 28 competition managers are Chinese, which is
different from the previous two Games in Sydney and Athens," said
Zhang.
"The previous Games organizers hired foreign aid in these
positions but we consider the Beijing Games a great opportunity to
leave China many sport management experts of its own," he said.
Different from other BOCOG positions, competition manager
appointments need approval from the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) and international sports federations (IFs).
These managers, who must speak fluent English or French, are
responsible for organizing competition and coordinating with
relevant IFs.
"These personnel have all been recognized by the International
Olympic Committee and the international sports federations before
they were appointed. I personally have much confidence in them," he
said.
Vice director Liu Wenbin admitted that some IFs once doubted the
Chinese personnel's abilities in organizing sport competition that
China are not good at, for example, cycling and equestrian.
"It took longer time to decide competition manager candidates in
China's weak sports. We finally nailed it, however, through
constant communication with relevant IFs and by sending those
candidates to international events to learn, “said Liu.
China sent 11 people to Athens Olympic Games organizing
committee to collect experience and kept fielding candidates to
many international events since then to help with organization and
at the same time to accumulate experience.
"Those people eventually won over the IOC and relevant IFs," he
said, adding that equestrian and cycling test events had been held
successfully last year.
BOCOG also set up a competition organizing team of 612 people,
recruited from all over China. And 6507 volunteers specialized in
competition organization will serve the Games.
Running from August 8 through to 24, the Beijing Games will see
302 gold medals from 28 sports.
(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2008)