More than 200 representatives from international news wire services, photo agencies, newspapers, internet sites and non-rights holding broadcast organizations are expected to attend the Vancouver 2010 World Press Briefing this autumn.

 

Four day programme 

Scheduled for 18 to 21 November 2008, the World Press Briefing will outline detailed information about the services and facilities for the written and photographic press. The briefing will include presentations by various Games functions, including Accreditation, Accommodation, Rate Card, Technology and Transportation. The four-day programme features detailed tours of the competition and non-competition venues, with an emphasis on the services and facilities for the press, including plans for the Main Press Centre and venue media centres. Tourism agencies are also participating in the briefing by providing destination information about the Games host region.

Operational plans  

“The goal of the World Press Briefing is to present VANOC’s current operational plans in order to help our press clients with their 2010 Winter Games coverage plans,” said Terry Wright, executive vice president, services and games operations. “Our Press Operations team is focused on providing a high level of service and convenient facilities for the world’s press so they can tell the story of the 2010 Winter Games in both an efficient and exciting manner. Representatives of the leading press organizations from around the world will have an opportunity to experience our region, from the ice arenas in Vancouver to the mountain slopes in Whistler.”

Quota  

The International Olympic Committee has established a quota of 2,800 accreditations covering the categories of written and photographic press and non-rights holding broadcast organizations. The concept of the World Press Briefing debuted before the Sydney 2000 Games. The World Press Briefing is held one year before the Games; it presents the Organizing Committee’s detailed plans for Games-time print media facilities and services.

If you want to get one of the last places for the 6th World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture, register now at www.olympic.org/busanforum. Under the motto "Sport and Education for the Now Generation", the event will take place in Busan (Korea) from 25 to 27 September 2008. Forum participants will also have the chance to watch the Opening Ceremony of the 4th Busan TAFISA World Sport for All Games on 26 September.    

 

What is the educational potential of events like the Youth Olympic Games? How can we educate athletes for life after their sporting career? How can we discuss the doping scourge effectively with youngsters? And which are successful methods to implement nationwide Olympic education programmes for kids and young people in the countries of future Olympic Games? These are only a few of the topics which will be addressed during lively discussions in plenary and parallel sessions. The detailed programme is now available and features speakers from the Olympic family, governmental and non-governmental institutions, the United Nations system, universities and media groups. To get input from young people first hand, one session will feature only youngsters on the podium.

 

 Learn more about the programme

An astonishing Opening Ceremony in Beijing on Saturday welcomed the world to the Paralympic Games. The Ceremony, which took place in the "Bird’s Nest", was witnessed by a full house of spectators from all over the world. During the three-hour event, the show focused on the “harmony between man and nature”, with three different parts – space, time and life.  A total of 420 performers with a disability participated in the Opening Ceremony, marking one of the largest performances of this sort. The first three days of the Paralympic Games saw a large rang of high-level competitions in an excellent atmosphere. 

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC), in collaboration with the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Ltd. (BOB), offers eight hours per day of live commentated coverage of the Paralympic Games. It is broadcasted on the IPC's internet TV channel www.ParalympicSport.TV. BOB - as the host broadcaster - provides live signals of 10 Paralympic sports including athletics, boccia, cycling (track), judo, table tennis, volleyball (sitting), wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis.

Video on demand  

The official programme of ParalympicSport.TV will have an interesting mixture of the aforementioned sports, with additional daily highlights provided as video on-demand. The daily highlights will also include those sports that are not covered in the live stream. SIXTY Seconds™, the daily news show presented by Paralympian Ambassador Chris Waddell, will wrap up the latest Paralympic Games News. It will be available on the main channel at www.ParalympicSport.TV, as well as on the YouTube Channel of ParalympicSport.TV at www.youtube.com/paralympicsporttv.

 

 The Beijing Paralympic Games (official website) 

Three days to go for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. The Games will kick off with another spectacular ceremony in the National Stadium – the Bird’s Nest - in Beijing. Over 13 days, 4,000 athletes from 148 countries will compete in 20 sports. The Paralympics will be staged in the same iconic venues as the Olympic Games in August, including the sailing competitions in Qingdao and the equestrian competitions in Hong Kong.

Paralympic firsts
Burundi, Gabon, Georgia, Haiti and Timor-Leste will participate for the first time in the Paralympic

Games; Serbia and Montenegro will participate for the first time as two delegations. The Chinese delegation, with 332 athletes and 215 officials, is the country's largest at the Paralympics. Rowing is on the sports programme for the first time.

Torch relay under way
The Games will be preceded by a torch relay that includes 850 torch bearers who are

carrying the torch over 10 days in different provinces of the country. Some 30,000 volunteers will

welcome and assist the athletes.

Paralympic Village opened

The Paralympic Village was opened formally on Saturday, with the Chinese squad hoisting its flag and moving in. The Paralympic Village, transformed from the Olympic Village, will play host to the athletes and officials. Special accessories and facilities have been added to the Village to meet the needs of physically challenged athletes. Spread over 66 hectares, the Village has 42 apartment buildings, a hospital, a bank, places of worship and many shops.

A commemorative wall with the inscription of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in Chinese and English, was also unveiled on Saturday. The Convention was unanimously approved by delegates of the 192 UN members two years ago, and became effective from 3 May this year. All athletes, officials and visitors to the Village can sign their names on the wall, which will be retained as a legacy of the Beijing Paralympic Games.

 Facts and Figures

 Discover Paralympic Games through the Olympic Express

 Learn more about the Paralympic Games

Following the decision of the IOC Executive Board to shortlist the four Candidate Cities of Harbin (China), Innsbruck (Austria), Kuopio (Finland) and Lillehammer (Norway), the IOC President has appointed an Evaluation Commission to further analyse the projects put forward for the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2012.

The IOC Evaluation Commission will be chaired by Ms Pernilla Wiberg, IOC member and IOC Athletes’ Commission member, and is composed of the following persons:

- Victor Khotochkin, NOC representative, Vice-President of the Russian Olympic Committee
- Fredi Schmid, AIOWF representative, International Skating Union (ISU) Director General
- Martin Rutishauser, Swiss Olympic Association Secretary General
- Gilbert Felli, IOC Olympic Games Executive Director
- Christophe Dubi, IOC Sports Director
- Essar Gabriel, IOC Head of the Youth Olympic Games

As part of the candidature procedure, the Candidate Cities will have the opportunity in September to present their bid to the Evaluation Commission through a video conference call. The video conference calls will take place for one hour and will be structured in two parts: a 15-20-minute verbal presentation by the city to present its bid, followed by questions and answers.

The Evaluation Commission will submit a report to the IOC Executive Board. On the basis of this report, the IOC Executive Board will decide which shortlisted YOG Candidate Cities will be selected to be submitted to a postal vote by all IOC members. The announcement of the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games host city will take place in December 2008.

 Learn more about the YOG

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For further information, please contact Emmanuelle Moreau on +41 79 637 30 17 or e-mail: pressoffice@olympic.org.