Romany:Chinese are prepared for Olympic Games

The Association of National Olympic Committees(ANOC)General Assembly is entering its third day at the China World Hotel in Beijing,China.

Yesterday's session started at 9am and ended at 6.35pm,with an hour and a half break for lunch.

All two hundred and five national Olympic committees are represented and the five hundred plus representatives would have gotten an earful regarding the status of all aspects of the upcoming Beijing Olympic games.

Naturally with the opening ceremony only four months away,NOC presidents and Secretary generals seized the opportunity to ask hard and searching questions of the Beijing Olympic Games Organising Committee(BOCOG).

The BOCOG senior staff and high level managers are composed ,competent, well prepared and unwilling to deviate from the technical manuals and IOC rules.So the standard response is a polite and courteous sorry but we have to say no.

This adherence to the"rules and provisions" while making for good order lends itself to contention and hard feelings.

TTOC president Larry Romany while acknowledging that the Beijing officials are bent on sticking to the rules believes it is a reality that NOCs will have to except.

"The Olympics is about people ,so there will always be the need for flexibility in the application of the rules and guidelines,but BOCOG is taking a strict line ,I don't foresee that they will deviate but that aside they seem to be well on top of things"

With a large media contingent in attendance most of the media questions asked surrounds Tibet.However NOC officials appear to have other priorities.

With haze and a smog like atmosphere greeting NOC officials everyday since their arrival ,there is unease about the issue of pollution and the air quality.

BOCOG officials are however giving the assurances that the Chinese government is paying close attention and working very hard at solving the problem and improving the air quality.

The die however has been cast says the T&T Olympic chief "There is no turning back now.So we just have to trust the Chinese officials regarding their efforts to address the pollution and air quality concerns"

Romany is satisfied that the Chinese are ready to stage a fantastic Olympic Games.

On Friday the visiting NOC officials will be taken on a tour of the Olympic venues.

The TTOC officials are expected to return to T&T on Saturday 12 April.

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