Beijing Olympics Bid Committee Dismisses Report as SmokeBeijing's 2008 summer Olympics bid committee dismissed an AFP report that the city has garnered 15 more "tickets" from the IOC members than rivals Paris or Toronto, is "nonsense".One senior official from the bid committee told reporters in Beijing on Friday that the writer of the report has "ulterior motives," because in the city's former bid for the 2000 summer Games, wired reports also put Beijing far ahead of Sydney before the vote, it turned to be Beijing lost to Sydney by two votes. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said:"The report is smoke. It is impossible for anybody to have a vote result that concrete (15 tickets), prior to the IOC members casting their votes on July 13 (in Moscow)." Also, new IOC rules forbid any bid city to engage with any of its members before the official vote. "How can AFP get those figures?" The official asked. Another source with the bid committee said that smokes like Beijing getting more "tickets" than other cities will not help the city's bid, and could have negative effect on the general public, and could also affect IOC members' voting. The Shanghai Youth Daily on Thursday reported that AFP, a well-known worldwide wired service, had produced a series of questionable reports. Before the IOC evaluation commission revealed its inspection report on Wednesday, it reported Beijing was listed third after Paris and Toronto, because most of Beijing stadiums have not come into being. Actually, the evaluation report put Beijing, Paris, and Toronto as equals to bid for the 2008 Games, as either of the three is able to stage an excellent games. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |