Access facilities at all Beijing Paralympic Games venues will all meet international standards, organizers said yesterday, when the 100-day countdown to the opening of the Paralympics began.

French diplomatic analyst Ed Damazin Marquis presents flowers to fencing Paralympian Jin Jing at the International Forum on the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing yesterday.

"The plans for the barrier-free facilities in all the Paralympic venues have been worked out and most of the facilities have been fixed at the venues," Zhang Qiuping, director of Paralympic Games Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), said.

"More overlay facilities will be set up after the Beijing Olympic Games, and during the Paralympic Games all the accessible facilities will meet the requirement of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC)," Zhang added.

The Beijing Paralympic Games will be held from Sep 6-17, 12 days after the conclusion of the Olympic Games.

Altogether 20 Olympic venues will be used for the Paralympics, eighteen in Beijing and two in Qingdao (sailing) and Hong Kong (equestrian).

All venues have been completed and tested by warm-up events.

In addition to Paralympic venues, buildings across the entire city have been fitted with easy-access installations, including historical relics like the Great Wall and Forbidden City.

"It's difficult to add accessible facilities to those historical relics, since we have to protect them at the same time, but we have achieved that," said Zhang.

BOCOG is the first organizing committee to take charge of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and so far preparation work has gone smoothly.

"All departments of BOCOG shoulder the tasks of organizing the two Games and we will fulfill our commitment to give the two Games equal splendor," Zhang said.

About 4,000 athletes will contest 472 events at The Beijing Paralympic Games, which 2,500 officials will preside over.

Up to now, the entire competition schedule has been finalized and tickets will go on sale soon.

"We will invite disabled people from the whole country to come to Beijing to watch the Paralympic competitions, including those in the recent earthquake-hit areas," Zhang said.

"I believe the fighting spirit of those Paralympians will encourage the people in quake-hit areas a lot, since most disable people boost their confidence through sporting achievements."

Selection and training for about 30,000 Paralympic volunteers from more than 800,000 applicants is also currently underway.

Also yesterday, 20 experts from 13 countries spoke about Paralympic development at the International Forum on the 2008 Paralympic Games, held to mark the 100-day countdown to the event.

Under the theme of "expect and share", the participants discussed how to add the final touches to Paralympic Games preparations and to create a better legacy for the country's 80 million disabled.

(China Daily May 30, 2008)