By Tham Choy Lin, Bernama,
Beijing : Beijing veered into the final lap of this summer’s Olympics Games, still dogged by simmering tensions over Tibet and outbursts of patriotism at home and abroad, against criticisms of China.
The 100-day countdown on Wednesday morning kicked off with a massive show of support by 10,000 Beijing folks participating in a 13km marathon relay and a 2km walk-cum-jog.
At the Olympic Green, the hub of the Games, and other competition sites, preparations of venues are into their final touches for the nearly 11,000 athletes vying for 302 gold medals in 28 sports.
The opening ceremony under China’s award-winning film director Zhang Yimou was long sold out last year, and the final phase of sales for the 6.8 million total tickets, among the cheapest in Olympics history, begins next week.
Beijing’s impressive preparedness included the opening of a new airport terminal, new subways and putting new environment-friendly buses on its streets.
Large crowds brave the dust for snaps of the showpiece National Bird’s Nest Stadium and the adjacent aquatic centre dubbed the Water Cube, even during its construction.
The momentum towards the Aug 8 Games opening, however, has been overshadowed by disruptions of the international Olympics torch relay by pro-Tibet independence protests, pressure to play a bigger role in Sudan’s Darfur crisis and a possible boycott of the opening ceremony by foreign leaders.
The run-up was also troubled by foiled terrorism plots at home which China said were aimed at sabotaging the Olympics.
The plots — an attempt to blow up a domestic jet and plans to kidnap foreigners, including athletes and journalists during the Olympics — underlined the security threat facing the Games.
Attempts to entangle sports and politics have been rebuffed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which is facing criticisms for awarding the Games to China.
The IOC athletes commission with members, including former pole vault champion Sergei Bubka, have thrown their support behind Beijing, slamming boycotts as “pointless and senseless” that would only hurt athletes.
“There can be no better way to encourage China’s change and celebrate the positive steps already taken, than to engage through sport. And no better way than through the Olympic Games, watched by billions around the world, and millions who will come to Beijing,” the commission said in an April 24 release.
Coinciding with the countdown, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China said death threats against foreign correspondents and official statements demonising Western media over perceived biased Tibet reports was creating a hostile environment to local-based foreign media and the tens of thousands coming to cover the Olympics.
“If allowed to continue, the reporting interference and hate campaigns targeting international media may poison the pre-Games atmosphere for foreign journalists,” FCCC president Melinda Liu said in a statement, urging Beijing to keep its promise of complete media freedom.
State-owned China Daily said Beijing and its citizens were committed to “a superb sporting event for world athletes”.
“The last thing they would do is to let the country and the world down for the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) choice. They want to tell the world that their rationale for bidding for the Games in 2001 was sound then, and remains sound today,” it said in an editorial Wednesday.