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

Now I will be talking about the volunteers. We have 1507 volunteers for this venue. There are about 545 professional volunteers and 667 general volunteers. Athletes' trainings for the venue have come to an end. All the venues have started working already.

Then I will be talking about the venue including both the hardware and the facilities. All the facilities and equipment and landscaping have been installed in place. All the transitions for the different events have been practiced a couple of times and are up to the standard set by the Olympic Games. We also have finished other technical systems including the flat water, the giant screen, the computer system for the venue, the score board and other equipments. All the TV broadcasting system is ready. We did a rehearsal yesterday and everything is working smoothly.

Now I will be talking about the media operation. The media operation team at the venue is very internalized and professional. For the international part, the media operation team working at the venue has 26 salary staff. There are 7 foreign experts and 13 foreign volunteers. They are also professional, because these are media volunteers. 78 of them are professional volunteers and they all have rich media service knowledge.

What is different about our venue from other venues is that we have the only filming boat in the Beijing venues; we have two 1,000-meter-long courses that can shoot more realistically with better effect.

Finally, I will be talking about the features of the venue operation. The features of this venue is that for the first time the marathon and also the Olympic canoeing have become formal events of Olympics and they will be held at our venues. And then, the second feature is there is more canoe/kayak registered for these events, surpassing the record of the other Olympic Games. We also have four characteristics of the venue operation.

We have competitions everyday from August 9 to August 23 except for the 15th. And then the second the density of the contests and of the meet competition is high. Within 13 days of competitions, we will be holding 184 competition, and 32 award ceremonies.

Thirdly, the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park is the biggest venue in terms of area. There are about three kilometers apart from south to north. So the team members have to finish and do a lot of preparation and organization work in the venue, it is very demanding for them, and it is not easy.

Fourthly, the venue flat water area will be holding the rowing canoeing and marathon swimming. Because of the different competitions, our team has to change the courses five times on the evening of August 17th, evening of 19th, noon and evening of 20th, noon of 21st. They don't really have that much time to change the course, and it is very demanding. We have to do this so that all the competitions will be completed in time and smoothly. Thank you.

Zhang Jinlin

Before asking question, please state your name and the organization you work for.

Xinhua News Agency

I have a question regarding water. As we know, last year, the Chaobai River was quite dry and Beijing is a dry city. How do you solve the water problem? The second question is for the cleanliness of water. How often do you have to change the water to make sure the water is clean?

Zhang Xiangdong

All the international federation canoeing, kayaking and rowing have set up the standard for the water level and the water quality. So far we have reached them all. About the cleanliness of the water, we installed the micro pollutant treatment equipment. We have started using it and the cleanliness or quality of the water have reached the standards of the federation. You mentioned that there is no water at the Chaobai River. It happened in that river for a long time ago. Now there is a lot of water there in the river.

ONS

What was there before the whole area was built? What was there?

Zhang Xiangdong

Before the venue was built, it was actually a barren land near the Chaobai River. Chaobai River has water and this place has water too. But when Beijing was dry, this place was a barren land.

Beijing Daily

As you said, there are a lot of competitions and the venue will hold all the competitions here in Beijing. Has the planning changed because of this?

Xin Qunying

So after we successfully won the bid for the Olympic Games, we started planning the venues. We need to switch the courses from rowing to canoeing and kayaking. On the 17th, rowing competition will start. On the 18th, canoeing will start. They are 6 courses for rowing and 9 courses for canoeing. The course for rowing is 2000 meters, and the course for canoeing is 1000 meters and 1500 meters. So we have to switch from the rowing competition to canoeing competition very fast. Both the IOC and BOCOG decided to put the marathon swimming in this area. The marathon swimming just uses half of the venue which is about 1000 meters and we will be using the canoeing part, but it will be 4 and a half rounds on both sides. After the added event of the marathon swimming, the competition will be on the morning of the 20th and 21st, and on the afternoon there will be a canoeing competition. On the evening of the 19th, we have to change the facilities. From the end of the marathon swimming on the 20th to the beginning of the canoeing competition, we have 3 hours at the most. We have to change the swimming facilities and turn it back to canoeing facilitates. On the eve of the 20th and noon of 21st we have to change it again. I will not talk more on rowing and canoeing.

For the marathon swimming, they have to have a terminal touch board which is a triangular shape. They will also have 4 giant buoys, 6 courses indicating the buoys and 2 supply wall for the swimmers.

I will also mention that we have the OMEGA electronic sport system. Since we have different systems for the canoeing competition and rowing competition, we have to switch the systems. We demand that we made the switch within an hour. Originally, the switching course of the rowing to canoeing required 8 hours, and after practices and facilities, we can do it in 3 hours. We conducted 4 rehearsals. We successfully did the switching rehearsals with OMEGA.

ONS

Did you say that the marathon swimming is the first time in the Olympic Games?

Xin Qunying

Yes, it is first time.

ONS

I was wondering how does it work? It is on flat water and it is just one final?

Xin Qunying

Marathon swimming is also open water marathon swimming. According to the rules, under 10 kilometers is open water. 10 kilometers or above is marathon swimming. This is 10kms, so this is marathon swimming. The aquatic sports are held on the Water Cubic, whereas marathon swimming is held here. You can see this tower is where they will start and they come over and turn over and then when they reach 1000 meters, they will make another turn.

ONS

What is the legacy you would like to leave on the first marathon swimming race in the Olympic Games? What kind of legacy you would like to leave?

Xin Qunying

This is a very good question. This is the first time in Beijing that the rowing and canoeing competition venue is constructed. The marathon swimming, as the new event in the Olympics, will have its first showcase in Beijing. So to us, it has a very high historic value.

Zhang Jinlin

Since we have another press conference in this room, we need to wrap up in this room. I would like to give you a preview. Tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Main Press Center Room 1, leaders from the BOCOG will be talking about "We are ready".