12th September 2007
Beijing’s airport expansion to be completed by February 2008
Beijing’s new airport expansion is expected to be completed by February 2008.
The (airport’s) present limited conditions will be transformed and we will have full and comprehensive resources to support the Olympic Games,’ said Zhang Zhong, general manager of Beijing Capital International Airport Co, a Hong Kong-listed company chiefly responsible for operating both aviation and non-aviation business at the airport.
Read more: Beijing Capital Airport’s 27 bln yuan expansion to be completed by Feb 2008
Computerized translators for foreigners in Beijing
Beijing is planning to introduce a computerized translation service for mobile phones for the Olympics. If a foreigner for example is looking for somewhere to eat, they can call a number, speak their request and they will then receive computerized information in their language.
Beijing tourism authorities are expecting 550,000 foreigners to visit the city during the Olympic games.
“We now only have Chinese and English services, but will expand to other languages including French, German and Spanish,” said Pan, associate director of Thinkit Speech Laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Acoustics.
Read more: Computerized polyglots to serve Beijing Olympics
Australia and New Zealand battle it out for Olympic spot
Australia and New Zealand will be battling out for Oceania’s only berth for the Beijing Olympics in the men’s hockey. Papua New Guinea are also participating but it is unlikely they will faze Australia who are ranked number 2 in the world and New Zealand who are ranked 9th.
“It’s going to be the greatest test they have faced since I have been working with the team in the last year,” New Zealand coach Shane McLeod said after his team’s final training session.
Read more: Aussies, Kiwis fight for Olympic spot
US to pick 2008 Olympic weightlifting team in Atlanta 2 replies
Georgia Tech will host weight lifting championships to decide who will go to Beijing and participate in the 2008 Olympics. The countries top 60 athletes, 30 men and 30 women will compete for four spots each.
“Georgia has a rich history of Olympic weightlifting dating all the way back to the 1956 Melbourne Games,” said Team Georgia coach C.J. Stockel, referring to gold medalist Paul Anderson.
Read more: USA Weightlifting will pick its 2008 Olympic team in Atlanta
Tunisian swimmer Oussama Mellouli eligible for Olympics
Oussama Mellouli was banned for 18 months for testing positive for amphetamines at a competition on November 30, 2006. The ban dates back to when he used the banned substance making him still eligible to compete next year in the Beijing Olympics.
Mellouli won gold medals for the 800-metre freestyle and silver in the 400 freestyle in March at the world championships in Melbourne, Australia. He will be stripped of those medals.
“The swimmer admitted that he had taken an Adderall pill two days earlier to prevent him from falling asleep so that he could finish writing a report which counted towards his final university diploma. If the swimmer was indeed guilty of negligence, such negligence was not sufficiently serious to suspend him for two years, which would have meant an automatic ban from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing,” the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel ruled.
Still lots left to do for the Olympics
Steven Schwankert reports that there is still a lot left to be done for the Olympics and many promises are yet to be fulfilled.
- pollution still bad and cars are increasing in the city
- China still hasn’t issued third-generation (3G) telephony licenses
- having English speaking taxi driver is still a dream
Read more: For Beijing Olympics, Lots Left to Do
2nd September 2007
Mens Basketball 2007 FIBA Europe Championship
September 3, 2007 6:00 pm | to | September 16, 2007 6:00 pm |
September 3-16, 2007 in Spain. Two spots up for grabs.
Official site: http://www.eurobasket2007.org/en/default.asp