The Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) has been given largest-ever
press accreditation quotas for the 2008 Olympic Games, a senior
official at the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) said
on Friday.
"Compared to Athens 2004, there will be a considerable increase
in COC's press quotas for Beijing 2008 as China plays host to the Games,"
BOCOG's executive vice president Jiang Xiaoyu told
reporters.
But he refused to give the exact
number.
The COC was allocated about 100 press accreditations for Athens
2004, excluding 80 quotas directly given by the International
Olympic Committee to Xinhua News Agency, China's official news
agency.
According to BOCOG, the overall press quota for the Beijing
Games has been capped at 5,600, the same as for Sydney 2000 and
Athens 2004.
The two-stage accreditation process, involving the Press by
Number process followed by the Press by Name process, will start in
March when BOCOG distributes the Press by Number forms to all
Olympic Committees, the IOC said last year.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)