A Polish diplomat and his family became the first to register for the "Olympic Families Tour Beijing" as the Beijing Olympic Games organizers (BOCOG) launched the program to invite 10 families both at home and abroad to an Olympic-themed tour in China on Monday.

 

Janusz Tatera, head of the Consular Section of the Polish Embassy, together with his daughter and wife, was invited as distinguished guests by the BOCOG and became the first Olympic family registered for the program on the organizers' official website www.beijing2008.cn during the ceremony.

 

"When Beijing was given the right to host the Games in Moscow six years ago, I was there," said the former secretary general of Polish Olympic Committee.

 

"Everyone on the spot share a same question that is what an Olympics will be like in Beijing and I truely like to find the answer," he said.

 

"That's why my whole family is so interested in this program," he added.

 

The tour, covering both Beijing and co-host cities, is scheduled to begin on Aug. 8 this year to mark the one year count-down to the Beijing Games as 10 families, five from China and five from the rest of the world, will been chosen by Internet users through BOCOG's bilingual official website in Chinese and English.

 

The participants must be families with at least three members and first registering with the official website to become a member of the Olympic families before submitting photos and introduction of themselves.

 

Once their information is verified by the organizers, these families will be open to the public voting.

 

The candidates will be narrowed down to 100 by the end of next month to enter the second-phase competition which runs until June 30 before the 10 winning families are picked.

 

The winning families will visit the innovative "Bird's Nest" main stadium and the state-of-art swimming stadium "Water Cube" as well as the Olympic sailing site in Qingdao, Shandong Province.

 

They will also watch some Olympic test events and get the chance to climb the Great Wall and have a look around in the Forbidden City in the Chinese capital.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2007)