Olympic Officials View Beijing's 2008 Bid

Officials from the International Olympic Committee are arriving in Beijing to assess the city's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Chinese officials are spending millions of dollars to impress the IOC, but must overcome criticism of the country's human rights practices and its serious air pollution.

Some of the preparations are startling. In the middle of Beijing's bitterly cold winter, crews have 'planted' big tubs of artificial flowers on streets and painted some lawns green near stadiums.

Thousands of people are working on the preparations, all to impress officials from the International Olympic Committee set to begin their work Wednesday.

They'll be checking to see if Beijing's existing and planned stadiums are good enough to host world class competition. Inspectors will examine everything from locker room ventilation to the telecommunications available to journalists covering the games.

They will check the city's planned expansion of roads and subways, as well as a high tech traffic management system to be sure athletes and spectators don't miss events because of transportation snarls.

Beijing's Olympic Bid Committee says the city plans to spend billions of dollars over the next eight years for infrastructure improvements. Officials also plan to tackle the city's terrible air pollution. On some days the gray brown haze cuts visibility to a couple of city blocks. But Beijing says the situation is improving as factories switch from coal to natural gas and by 2008, the city's air quality will be at least as good as that in Paris.

Beijing is competing with Paris, Osaka, Toronto, and Istanbul for the right to host the games.

Chinese officials remember their bitter disappointment at losing the 2000 Olympics to Sydney, Australia, following criticism of China's human rights practices. Some foreign governments and human rights groups say China still abuses political dissidents and members of the Falun Gong spiritual group.

Meantime, Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch says the inspectors should stick to technical details, and not address China's human rights situation. On July 13, IOC members gather in Moscow to vote on which city will get the games.

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