"Auspicious Olypic"-A jetliner painted with the mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was unveiled at Beijing Capital International Airport. JIao Xiaoyu is attending the unveiling ceremony.	Jiang Xiaoyu is answering reporters? questions, introduce the preparations for the Olympics.

The year 2007 is crucial to the Beijing Olympiad organizers, as the digital clock in Tian'anmen Square counts the seconds to August 8, 2008. Staff reporter Xu Xiaoyan interviewed Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) to see how preparations for this all-important, prestigious event are going .

Reporter: At what stage are preparations for the Olympics?

Jiang Xiaoyu: Preparations for the 2008 Olympics reach their utmost pitch this year, within which the BOCOG has four main tasks to accomplish. First is completion of venues and the organization of competitive events. Construction of sports venues is currently at the stage of fitting and installation of electromechanical equipment. All competition and training venues will have been completed and tested by the end of 2007. Second is the fulfillment of urban logistics, including water, electricity, natural gas, heating, roads and other facilities. Third is synchronization of the games’ time operation mechanisms and systems by the BOCOG and relevant departments of the Beijing municipal government. Finally, the management and security teams for the Games will be put in place.

Reporter£ºHow is construction of venues progressing? And what does the BOCOG have in mind as regards their utilization after the Olympic Games?

Jiang Xiaoyu: The Beijing Olympics require 37 gymnasiums and stadiums as well as 63 training centers. Of these, 14 are new buildings, 14 are renovation and expansion projects, and 9 are temporary fitups. Thirty-one stadiums are located in Beijing; the others are in Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao and Hong Kong. Renovation and construction of these gymnasiums and stadiums will complete by the end of this year.

Once construction is completed, all stadiums will be tested, in line with the requirements of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Beijing’s commitment when it bid to host the Games. Facilities, the technical system, the planned program of events, operations criteria and guarantee capacity will all be tested, the aim being to perfect and improve all the work that has been done, as well as put the venues to practical use. Tests will begin in July this year and end in May of 2008. There will be 42 test events, collectively named “Good Luck Beijing,” in Beijing and its partner cities.

What happens to the stadiums when the Olympic Games are over has been a main issue for Olympics host cities around the world. Beijing expects to turn these potential "white elephants" into useful legacies by means of rational planning, wise functional design and efficient investment and operational systems. The layout and planning of the Olympic stadiums takes into consideration both city development and public needs. They are located in four main clusters: the Olympic Sports Center area, comprising 10 stadiums that include the National Stadium, the National Gymnasium and the National Swimming Center; the university area, where stadiums built in Peking University, the University of Science and Technology and the China Agricultural University will be of benefit to local residents and students; the western part of Beijing that currently lacks sports facilities, where construction of the Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center and six other sites will be particularly appreciated; and the northern Beijing tourism area. All four areas have flourishing uptown communities whose populations range from tens to hundreds of thousands. Olympic gymnasiums and stadiums have a future role to play in public sports as well as for expositions and performances.

Beijing has taken a new investment and operational approach to these Olympic venues. Guided by our foreign counterparts’ experience, we have invited tenders for their construction on the understanding that those who invest and build them will enjoy 30 more years of their operational and management rights. This ensures that investors give careful consideration to the future use of these sports facilities.

Reporter: How are preparations for the opening ceremony going?

Jiang Xiaoyu: In April 2006, the BOCOG finalized the work team for the opening and closing ceremonies. It includes Zhang Yimou, Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya as respective director and deputy directors, and a number of world-class celebrities as cultural and artistic consultants. The ceremonial themes were confirmed at the end of 2006, but the manner in which the torch is to be lighted will not be revealed until the last minute.

Reporter: How will tickets be sold?

Jiang Xiaoyu: What I can guarantee is that the sale scheme for Beijing Olympics tickets will be decided through legal process, and that domestic and international ticket agents will be authorized according to the principle of justice and fairness.

Beijing Olympic Games tickets will total 9 million, but not all are available to the general public. The exact number of tickets to be sold will be decided after calculating how many will go to the athletes, IOC members and the Games sponsors.

The BOCOG has already begun the work of arranging Olympics ticket sales, with public convenience as the main priority. Specific sale methods will be fully publicized by media. The BOCOG has adopted a low-price ticketing policy, taking into consideration China's average purchasing power and the principle that “participation is foremost.” Student tickets for each event will be priced between RMB 5 and 10 (approximately 1 dollar). Tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies will also be much lower than those of previous Olympics.

Reporter: What stage has volunteer recruitment reached?

Jiang Xiaoyu: The Beijing Olympics needs 100,000 volunteers, and since August 2006, 250,000 have signed up in Beijing. Recruitment of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan compatriots, those currently living abroad, overseas citizens of Chinese origin, and overseas Chinese students, as well as foreign friends, began in March 2007. The BOCOG has explicit requirements for the posts of bilingual volunteers; they must be qualified and knowledgeable about foreign culture.

Reporter: Has the BOCOG determined the Olympic torch relay route?

Jiang Xiaoyu: When China bid for the Olympic Games it promised that the Olympic torch would be carried to the summit of Mount Everest. The torch relay route was submitted to the IOC last December for approval, according to the overall work plan. Provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, are all part of the route.

Reporter: And the Beijing Paralympics?

Jiang Xiaoyu: The BOCOG will be the first organizing committee to host the world’s two most prestigious sporting competitions - the Olympics and the Paralympic Games. We guarantee that both will be memorable events in 2008.

Reporter: What is your biggest worry in the midst of all these preparations?

Jiang Xiaoyu: The weather on August 8, 2008 -- opening day of the Beijing Olympics. Weather was a main consideration even before Beijing won its bid to host the Games. China's bidding crew originally wanted to stage the event in late July, but after studying weather patterns, they rescheduled the Games to between August 8 and 24, with the approval of the IOC. Unfavorable weather could adversely affect outdoor events, athletes’ performances and also the telecast. Chinese meteorologists have checked records dating back 50 years in order to forecast the probability of rain on the opening day. In general, the chance of rain on the day over the last 50 years is between 30 and 40 percent, 75 percent of which was light rainfall. Over the past decade the weather on that particular day has been either rain-free or with light rainfall, according to records. We have consequently decided that August would be a better month than July for the event, although accelerated global warming makes weather during the Games difficult to predict. The departments concerned are working on measures to “minimize the effects of potentially bad weather.”

Reporter: How do you feel being the executive vice-president of BOCOG?

Jiang Xiaoyu: I feel a privileged Beijinger. I have been keen on sports since childhood. At the age of 13, I became a main player in the champion basketball team of the Beijing No.4 middle school -- the most famous in the capital, though I ended up a reserve player later in high school. I first knew of the Olympic Games in 1979, when the Chinese Olympic Committee's legal status was reinstated after a 20-year hiatus. But I never dreamed that after 25 years, the Olympics would constitute the most important assignment in my working life.