Press conference: Preparation work for Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park

Related story: Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park ready for Olympics

Date/Time: 2:00 p.m., Thursday, August 7

Venue: Main Press Conference (MPC)

Zhang Jinlin, host of the press conference.

Zhang Jinlin

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good afternoon. Welcome to our press conference. The topic for today is on the sport events preparation work of Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. We are very glad to have our speakers for this afternoon Mr. Xin Qunying, deputy director of the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, and Mr. Zhang Xiangdong, vice director of Shunyi Managemnt Committee of Olympic venues. First of all, I will give the floor to these two gentlemen on the sport events preparation work of Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.

Zhang Xiangdong gives speech at the press conference.

Zhang Xiangdong

Dear guests, friends from the media, good afternoon. From August 8 to August 23, 2008 at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, we will be conducting rowing-canoeing, kayaking and marathon swimming competition. There will be 32 gold medals. I'm going to brief you on the preparation of the venue.

Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park is located at the eastern side of Xiangyang Gate of Chaobai River. The venue is about 162.59 hectors and the total construction area is about 32,000 square meters.

The venue is a combination of dynamic and static with large areas. The whole park embodies the concept of 'People's Olympics'. It is the most characteristic canoeing venue. This is a bird site view of the venue. This is the water area. This is another site of the venue. So the first part is about the concept of 'People's Olympics'.

The design of the venue has its cultural characteristics. The main stand has the shape of the boat and the boat house has the shape of the wave. You can also see that the shape of the boat is like an oar. All these designs are very suitable for the utilization and they embody the Chinese culture.

So the construction is very personalized. The design is for the comfort and the needs of the disabled people. All the principle constructions have various free facilities. Inside the building, there are free bathrooms. They also put into consideration the needs of disabled spectators.

This is the main stand in the shape of a dragon boat.

This is focus building of the venue.

This is the inside of the main stand.

These are the boat houses in the shape of the waves

This is the terminal tower and we have a nickname called the jade lantern.

There is a lighting tower that shines the whole park.

This is the bridge, Jiangxing Bridge. This is the largest bridge in our venue. You can see both sides in the shape of a jiang (paddle). Now I will be talking about the concept of 'High-tech Olympics'.

First, I will talk about waste dust utilization. Within 3 to 4 meters area of the venue, the earth is with sand powder. They don't have any re-utilization value. However, the two-million-cubic-meter area is huge. The waste increased the expenses and will take out a lot of space, possibly cost environment pollution during the transportation.

So on the basis of concept of not tracking out one clod of earth, or checking in one clod of earth, we cooperated with the research institution to do some research in the lab about how to reduce the pollution. We obtain the necessary data. On the engineering, we did the experiment, and implement the concept.

You can see from this picture that we use the powder earth and power sand. We also thought about the energy conservation, on the south site of the venue. We installed 150 solar lights and we also have air conditioner and water circulator air conditioner, installing the waste treatment facility.

And then, about the 'Green Olympics' concept of the Games, I will be talking about the water quality guarantee and conservation. In the middle of the course, we actually install a water recycle circulation treatment station. The amount of water that they can treat is 72,000 cubic meters per day.

The water circulation period is about 35 to 40 days. The course circulation water treatment uses air raided suspended bio-packing techniques and the high efficient fiber filtration. We also used the high flow pump to push the whole course water circulation and to increase the oxygen in the water.

We also planted a lot of green plants and flowers. As for the plants, we also planted those who are easy to grow. We also try to plant the plants that can help preserve water sources and prevent the sand. We also use a lot of flowers for the decorations to add to the Olympic Games atmosphere. We also selected a lot of local evergreen plants.

When we water the plants and the flowers, we calculated how much water the plants and trees need so that we can conserve water. We have a central control water system that helps us to save 30% water.

Even after the Games, we will be training the park to serve the people of Beijing as the park will serve the people during the Games. We will make the park as the core of a recreation park with a vicinity of 15 square kilometers. We will change the park into a cultural sport and recreation area for the people. We will be using the park as the biggest training base for the country. As for the second purpose for the park after the Games, it will keep hosting the large water sports. Third one, we will make the park as the biggest water sports training base in Asia. The fourth, we will bring in all kinds of boats such as power sail boats, motor rides boat and we will be organizing the dragon boats competition. The boat competitions are colorful and are appealing to the residents so that people can enjoy the water sports.

The fifth, we will be organizing clubs so that Canoe/Kayak Flatwater, Canoe/Kayak Slalom and marathon swimming lovers can actually have a place to do the sports whenever they like. We provide high-level organization service.

Xin Qunying gives speech at the press conference.

Xin Qunying

I will be continuing briefing you on the sports event preparation on the park. Fist part will be the teams' arriving situation. For the rowing part, we have total 552 athletes from 60 countries and regions. In total, there are 207 boats competitions. We have 47 teams registered.

For the Canoe/Kayak Slalom, there are 29 counties and regions, 82 athletes arrived. There are 70 canoes in the competition.

As for Canoe/Kayak Flatwater, there are 246 athletes in the competition there are 219 canoes.

As for the open water marathon swimming, there are 28 countries in competition and about 50 athletes with 25 men and 25 women in the competition.