2008 Olympic Games.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said Tuesday he has “no regrets” over the choice of Beijing as host of the 2008 Games, despite human rights protests.In a BBC radio interview, he said rights campaigners were justified in using the Olympics to highlight the issue, adding that China “is changing”.

“I respect them for what they’re doing. It is absolutely legitimate that they get the most from the Olympics,” he said of the campaigners. “But where they make an error is to criticise the IOC for not solving the problems.

“Why would we be able to succeed where generations of heads of state and governments who have come to Beijing have not succeeded? We are a sports organisation — there are limits to what we can do.”

That did not mean the IOC does not fight for human rights.

“Does that mean that we don’t strive for human rights? No… of course we are in favour of human rights, and we’ve proven that many times in the past. But don’t expect from the IOC what the IOC cannot do.

“The Games will contribute but the Games will not solve all the problems of the world. We gave the Games to a country that represents one fifth of mankind. We gave the Games to a country that will change, that is changing.

“We have no regrets.”

Human rights campaign groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have vowed to use the Beijing Olympics next August to put the spotlight on China’s rights record.

BEIJING (AFP) — Organisers of the Beijing Olympics apologised on Wednesday for suspending ticket sales for next year’s Games, after unexpectedly high demand caused the computer booking system to crash.

The second phase of sales began on Tuesday morning but, with over eight million hits on the booking website in the first hour, the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) had to stop sales.

“We sincerely apologise to the general public,” a BOCOG statement said, adding sales would resume on November 5.

BOCOG blamed the problem on the sheer number of people who had sought to buy tickets.

“Because of the overwhelming volume of page visits, the technical system was unable to perform the tasks well enough, and many applicants were unable to successfully submit their applications,” the statement said.

“The ticketing centre had underestimated the demand from the public, resulting in shortcomings in the preparations and causing inconvenience to ticket buyers.”

Aside from the eight million clicks on the website, the number of calls to the ticketing phone line exceeded 3.8 million in the first hour.

In the now suspended second phase of sales, roughly 1.8 million tickets are on offer only to people living in China on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The first round of sales that ended in June was decided by lottery and saw 1.6 million tickets snapped up.

China will eventually sell a total of seven million tickets over three phases, with about 75 percent going to residents of China and the rest to overseas buyers.

Overseas sales begin in April.

The ticketing suspension has proved an unexpected glitch for BOCOG, who have previously been praised repeatedly by the International Olympic Committee for their preparations.

BEIJING - Chinese world record hurdler Liu Xiang has a message for his rivals: Don’t chase me, I’ll chase you.

Liu and coach Sun Haiping say they view other top hurdlers as targets to be caught and beaten, rather than challengers to be kept at bay.

“The preparation time is like when I was chasing rivals before the 2004 Athens Games,” Liu was quoted as saying in an interview published in Tuesday’s English-language China Daily. “I would like to take everything right from the start.”

Liu, who won China’s first-ever Olympic sprint gold in his breakout performance at Athens, is on winter break in his hometown of Shanghai. It wasn’t clear when the interview was conducted.

Sun said Liu will have to return to his original mindset and keep focused to hold off strong rivals at next year’s Beijing Summer Olympics. Liu’s race is expected to be one of Games’ marquee events.

“We will start from zero, like we have never won anything,” Sun said. “We will take every rival seriously and try to beat them.”

Sun said mental toughness was key to Liu winning next year, but added that he was tailoring the 24-year-old’s training to avoid injury or ill health.

“All the efforts will be in vain if Liu gets injured,” Sun said.

Liu followed up his Olympics win by setting a world record of 12.88 seconds last year, and in August won his first world 110-metre hurdle title in Japan.

Yet, despite dominating his event, Liu still faces tough competition. At last month’s Golden Grand Prix in Shanghai, Cuba’s Dayron Robles snatched the hurdles gold in 13.01 seconds.

Liu fell behind after the second hurdle and managed a third-place finish in 13.21. The meet marked his last major race at home before next year’s Beijing Olympic Games.

Sun said when training resumes, he will focus on bringing Liu’s time down to 13 seconds. Liu’s first race of the new season is at the IAAF World Indoor Championships at Valencia, Spain in March.

The International Olympic Committee has confirmed that some outdoor events at next year’s Beijing Games may be temporarily delayed because of unacceptable air quality in the Chinese capital. The issue of air pollution has threatened Beijing’s otherwise smooth preparations - closing a three-day visit by their Coordination Commission on Thursday, IOC President Jacques Rogge suggested there was still work to do in the 10 months until the Games. SOUNDBITE: (English) “We know that Beijing 2008 has to tackle important environmental issues. These problems are linked to the impressive economic development in China. The Olympic Games have brought some of these problems to the surface and encouraged the authorities to tackle them faster and more effectively as the City wants to present the best conditions to the world’s best athletes.” SUPERCAPTION: Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Beijing Organising Committee President Liu Qi responded with assurances. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) “We are going to set up air quality monitoring stations covering the whole city, especially in the area of the Olympics. Whenever necessary, we will adopt the contingency plan to ensure good air quality, taking temporary measures to lower the air pollution and protecting the health of the athletes and the success of the Games.” SUPERCAPTION: Liu Qi, President of Beijing Organizing Committee of 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG). SOUNDBITE: (English) “greenpeace believes that the Beijing Organizing Committee should make this Games a carbon neutral game. And we believe that with the current initiatives, BOCOG will be able to do that, offsetting the carbon dioxide emissions of the games. But BOCOG would have to show its leadership in implementing this and making this happen.” SUPERCAPTION: Lo Sze Ping, Campaign Director of Greenpeace, China. Inspection team leader Hein Verbruggen gave an otherwise positive report on Beijing’s preparations as next year’s August Games draw ever closer.
Video report

Jackie Chan has recorded the official one-year countdown song for the Beijing Olympics, “We Are Ready,” the action star said on his blog.Chan is best known for his daredevil stunts, but he dabbles in singing and has released several albums.

Chan said in a blog entry on his official Web site Wednesday he spent three hours recording the song during a recent trip to Beijing.

The veteran actor praised the lyrics to the Mandarin Chinese song composed by Peter Kam, who won a Silver Bear award for best film music at the Berlin Film Festival last year.

“Waiting year after year/We can see into the future/Together with hard work and sweat, we’ve created the five different (Olympic) colors,” one refrain of the song says.

Kam told The Associated Press in a phone interview that Beijing organizers are considering recording an English version.

Olympic organizers have also recorded a second Chinese version sung by more than 100 pop stars, Kam said.

Aside from the countdown song, Olympic organizers are expected to announce in March another batch of official songs to promote the competition, he said.

Chan said in an earlier blog message he got goose bumps attending the official one-year countdown event in Beijing on Aug. 8.

“The ceremony made me very emotional and I said to myself ‘That’s our China, that’s our day!’ I felt this moment belonged to our China, this moment belonged to us,” he wrote.

Separately, Chan said that “Air Diary,” the first of 10 Chinese movies he’s backing has been completed. Details of the plot and its release plans weren’t immediately available. A spokeswoman at the Beijing office of Chan’s JC Group didn’t immediately respond to a reporter’s e-mail seeking comment. All 10 upcoming films feature new directors and actors.