China has made tremendous efforts to ensure the upcoming summer Olympic Games in Beijing a success, Dutch Olympic Committee President Erica Terpstra said in a recent interview with Xinhua in The Hague.
"I really hope there will be a big success (in Beijing)," she said.
Marvelous venues and people
As the president of both the Dutch Olympic Committee and the Dutch Sports Confederation, Terpstra visited Beijing Olympics construction sites many times and she is quite satisfied with the venues. "The buildings are absolutely beautiful," she said.
Terpstra, herself a former Olympic swimmer, is especially fond of the swimming pool. "The Olympic swimming pool is so-o-o beautiful," she marvelled.
As for the challenges for Beijing to control air pollution and traffic jams, Terpstra said these are common challenges for the world's big cities and she believed the Chinese government has made an earnest effort to improve the situation.
"China plans to restrict the number of cars that could hit the road during the Games. Maybe that can help," she said.
She is also full of compliments for Chinese volunteers. Having seen Chinese volunteers doing their job during the Beijing marathon in October, she concluded that they will put on an equally fantastic if not better performance during the Olympic Games.
"I respect and salute all the volunteers for the Olympics. They are doing a marvelous job," she said.
Terpstra is also pleased at the Chinese organizers' initiative to ask middle schools in Beijing to "adopt" countries that participate in the Games.
Each participating country is adopted by a school whose students will then learn the history and culture of the country and to cheer for the country's athletes during the Olympics.
"It's such a great idea! I will soon visit the school in Beijing which adopted the Netherlands," she said.
Biggest ever Dutch delegation
Terpstra said that her country will dispatch the biggest Dutch Olympics delegation ever to Beijing, with 240 to 260 members. The Dutch athletes will compete in more sports events than at any previous Olympics.
"Our ambitions are high," she said, noting that the Dutch are strong at swimming, cycling, horse dressage, rowing, hockey and judo.
"We'd like to finish at the top ten of the world (medal rankings)," she said, refraining from making medal predictions.
The Dutch top athletes have been training for 10 to 12 years to get an entrance ticket to the Olympics, she said.
"All they want now is to realize their dreams -- being the best at the Games," said Terpstra, who won a silver and a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
During the Games, the whole Dutch nation will cheer for the Dutch athletes, she said. Many people will be dressed in orange, the color of the Dutch royal house, and those who can not travel to Beijing will be glued to television to watch the events.
The Olympics are a unique occasion where people from different backgrounds are brought together and practise sport in a spirit of friendship, free from discrimination, Terpstra said.
"It's so marvelous to be an athlete in the Olympic village, seeing people of all colors of the rainbow, of all cultures, religions and beliefs, who have one thing in common: the Olympic dreams," she said. "You really feel you are a global citizen."
"It's the power of sports," she concluded.