Officials say construction delays will not affect test events scheduled in the Olympic Stadium for early 2008.(ATR)
Stadium Delay Possible
Concerns over the lighting and other systems have delayed construction work on the Beijing Olympic stadium. Completion of the venue could be set back by up to three months, officials say.
"The preference is to safeguard the operation of various systems," a spokeswoman for the Beijing Olympic Construction Office says.
The spokeswoman says lighting systems are "one example" of the areas of concern but adds that she is "not clear" about the detailed problems in the preparation of the 91,000-seat stadium.
Wu Jingjun, BOCOG's chief engineer for venue construction, says work on the other 11 new venues under construction is on track for completion as scheduled by the end of this year.
But the work on the National Stadium could be delayed by up to three months, Wu says.
"We have a clear timetable for the National Stadium," Wu -told reporters at a BOCOG press conference Wednesday. "It must be completed by the end of March 2008, because in April 2008 a series of Good Luck Beijing events will be held there," he said.
Wu says the delay will not affect the staging of the first events planned at the stadium next April: the IAAF Race Walking Challenge and the 2008 China Open Marathon.
The estimated cost of construction is 3.1 billion yuan (400 million dollars) for the stadium, which is designed by Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron.
Earlier this week in comments to Around the Rings, IOC Coordination Commission chair for Beijing Hein Verbruggen indicated that his group would be looking closely at deadlines when it meets next month.
“It is obvious there are deadlines, absolutely deadlines for very, very important things coming up, look at the broadcasting, you need – we have to make sure now that we know where we can put cameras,” says Verbruggen.
Verbruggen, who spoke on this week’s 500-days-to-go mark, did not voice any worries about Beijing preparations.
Subway Cave-in Traps Six
Six workers are feared dead after they were buried in a subway tunnel for a new line scheduled to serve the 2008 Games in Beijing, officials say.
Rescuers were still digging through rubble Thursday after an area of earth and concrete measuring about 20 square meters collapsed onto the workers Wednesday morning, say officials.
Rescuers held only slim hope of finding the workers alive in the tunnel, which was between 10 meters and 22 meters underground, according to state media reports.
Construction managers only reported the accident to city authorities more than seven hours later, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The accident occurred in a stretch of tunnel under construction for Beijing's Number 10 subway line in the Haidian district. The 24 km first phase of the line is designed to form a loop across northern Beijing to link with other lines serving venues around the Olympic Village.
One worker told the Beijing Times that he was working in the tunnel with more than 30 others when part of it collapsed.
"Suddenly, I heard a big 'bang' noise and the workers ahead of us swarmed backwards," said the worker, who was identified by a pseudonym in the paper.
Beijing Olympic officials have recently made the claim that no one has died during the construction of Olympic venues.
2nd World Press Briefing announced
BOCOG has set the dayes for the 2nd World Press Briefing, October 10-12.
The three-day event will "provide international news organizations the ability to review first hand the preparations for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games,” says the BOCOG announcement.
The briefing includes venue tours, inspections of accommodation and reports from BOCOG on media facilities and services planned for the Games.
Dart Plot at Hong Kong Race Course
Hong Kong police are hunting four men suspected of planting devices to attack racehorses at the city's main racecourse.
Several tubes and a firing mechanism were found embedded in the turf near the starting line at the Happy Valley course.
Reports from Hong Kong say the tubes were designed to propel poison darts or other missiles, possibly at the behest of betting syndicates.
While the incident has raised questions about security for the equestrian events in Hong Kong next year for the Beijing Olympics, Happy Valley is not included in plans for the sport.
That venue is Sha Tin, which is now shutdown until the Games for Olympic preparation.
Swedish Coach for Women's Football
The China Football Association has appointed Swedish coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors to lead its women's team until the end of 2008.
Domanski-Lyfors' main target is to guide the Chinese team to at least a semi-final berth at the FIFA Women's World Cup in China this September, following a disappointing recent run.
"China's women's team is very young and needs more experience," she told state media. "But they have great potential. I am confident we can work together to improve the team."
Reported from Beijing by Bill Smith.
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