(ATR) After a day of practice races, the competition begins Monday in the first official test event for the 2008 Olympics, an international regatta in Qingdao, site of a stunning new venue.
Covering 45 hectares, the marina is built on the site of a former shipyard, in the shadow of the skyscrapers of Qingdao. Along with room for hundreds of boats, the spacious site includes a three story venue center.
The center hosts a press work area on the first floor, along with information desks. On the second floor a food court offers McDonald's at one end and KFC at the other. In the middle is a selection of Chinese and Qingdao delicacies. Offices for staff take the third floor and every level offers a sweeping view of the marina and city skyline.
"I'm pretty impressed actually," Ben Ainslie, who sails in the Finn class from the U.K., tells Around the Rings. He's never sailed in China before.
"I really didn't know what to expect. The marina is bigger than anything I?ve ever seen before. And so far the sailing has been good."
With the exception of housing for the athletes in a sub-Olympic Village under construction next door to the venue, the marina, for all practical purposes, seems to be finished.
Dick Batt, an official from the International Sailing Federation, says that Qingdao is certainly more advanced than Athens was when it staged a similar regatta in 2002.
"It is amazing and compared with Athens it is so much further ahead of Athens, so everyone is pleased," he says.
The regatta is the biggest sailing competition ever held in China. More than 460 competitors from 41 nations will take part in the sailing that runs until August 31. All nine classes in the Olympics will be staged in the waters of Fushan Bay, on courses expected to be similar to the ones that will be used in 2008.
Weather is excellent for sailing, with only a 10% chance of rain in the next few days and winds forecast in the range of 10 knots. High temperatures are forecast in the range of 26c.
Unlike the Olympics, which require venues clean of advertising, the test event does not carry such a ban. Key Beijing sponsors who also have stepped-up to help in Qingdao all have prominent signage at the venue. Included in this group is China Mobile Telecom, Haier, Omega, Schenker and Bank of China.
CNC, the natural gas sponsor for Beijing 2008 is the title sponsor for the regatta, which in its long form is known as the Good Luck Beijing-CNC 2006 Qingdao International Regatta.
Qingdao, a city of 7.3 million is 560 km southeast of Beijing on the Yellow Sea coastline. An enormously popular vacation destination for Chinese, the city is packed with restaurants, shops and hotels. The metropolitan area has 730 km of shoreline with 32 bays and 69 islands.
An international beer festival, now underway, is a huge tourist magnet. The city's beer heritage is the result of Tsingtao beer, China's most famous, brewed in Qingdao for more than a century. The brand is also one of the beer sponsors for the 2008 Olympics, but is not prominent among the pantheon of sponsors recognized with profusive signage at the regatta.
Opening ceremony for the regatta is Sunday night. A testament to the importance of this first test event for Beijing 2008, BOCOG President Liu Qi and Liu Peng, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee will both be appearing at the ceremony.
On the scene coverage from Qingdao and Beijing, through the coming week, at www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
