First test event fruitful

2008Olympics > In Depth

First test event fruitful
By Li Qian (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-09-12 15:21

As the first Olympic test event in Beijing, the Women's Softball World Championship which closed its curtains on September 5, 2006 at Fengtai Softball Centre got fairly high scores from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Softball Federation (ISF) for its world-class facilities and impressive organization, though specific suggestions were made for improvements for the Olympics, according to a Xinhua report on September 5.

It's also the first event in China to adopt the Olympic mode in organization. Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) official Lu Shijie said the Olympic mode is arranging and coordinating all the resources of the softball centre for different groups of athletes, journalists, spectators and officials by making overall plans and taking all factors into consideration.

Strict cost-control measures were taken with personnel, materials, space and efficiency. As a result, the opening ceremony of the World Championship cost only 500,000 yuan (60,000 USD) and landscape installation in and out of the softball centre cost less than 400,000 yuan (50,000 USD).

When the number of reporters reached 600, greatly exceeding the expected number of 200, more facilities were quickly added to the press centre and staff members were increased according to prepared plans.

Like many other Olympic venues currently under construction in Beijing, the Fengtai Softball Centre, the first to be finished, was built using sophisticated concepts and focused on pragmatism and environmental-friendliness.

Solar water heaters on the west wing of the building can provide nine tons of hot water daily. Waste water from the Fengtai Sports Centre pool and rainfall on the stadium is recycled and reused for watering plants and flushing toilets in the softball centre, which saves 80,000 tons of running water and several hundred thousand yuan for the softball centre annually.

Bricks on the sidewalk of the softball centre are water-absorbent, which is helpful in draining water after a rainfall and subsidizing groundwater. The Fengtai Softball Centre adopted 34 new techniques and materials such as the bricks.