The Olympic village for the Beijing Olympics will undergo a test operation at the beginning of July, according to Deng Yaping, Deputy Director of the Olympic Village Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
Deng Yaping, deputy director of the Olympic Village Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, receives an interview by a CRIENGLISH.com reporter in her office in Beijing, April 28, 2008. [CRI] |
The Beijing Olympic Village, located near the newly-built Beijing National Stadium in northern Beijing's Chaoyang District, provides accommodation for athletes, officials and staff members participating in the August Olympics. It is scheduled to open officially on July 27.
Deng said the Olympic Village operation team has been working hard to ensure a successful Olympics in this summer.
"Now everything goes smoothly and everything accords with the plan," Deng told CRIENGLISH.com on Monday.
Although there has been no official test operation for the village, the Olympic Village Department plans to run a test operation in the village in early July, the Village's Deputy Director Deng said.
The Village was designed and built based on requirements from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), including the size and capacity of the rooms.
"Regarding to the last meeting, which is the IOC official's came-over, and to visit our village, it seems they are quite satisfied of all the work having been done." Deng said.
Deng, one of China's greatest athletes, participated in two Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996, winning both women's singles and doubles in table tennis in both games. She also won nine gold medals in the World Table Tennis Championships. As an athlete, she said the biggest concern regarding the Olympic Village are the room conditions and food.
"For the athletes perspective, most of the athletes are great athletes around the world. They live in the village, and they want to have comfortable rooms, and good rests for the competing, and also they want to have a good international zone which provides some of the shopping area, and also for the, like Internet café, because nowadays it is the athletes' needs that, they need to contact with their family and also their friends."
