2008 Olympic Games.

First group of overseas volunteers of media operation for the Beijing Olympic Games, 23 students from U.S. University of Iowa, arrived here on Sunday.     One student will join the group on the next day, said Sterling Bacher, study abroad coordinator of the university, who arrived on June 15 in advance.

    Among the 24 Iowa volunteers, some will work at the Main Press Center (MPC) and the International Broadcast Center (IBC), Bacher said.

    Some will work at the tennis or wrestling course, mainly responsible for collecting comments or advice from athletes who finish their matches.

    ”They will ask the athletes how they feel the venue.” he added.

    According to Bacher, the Iowa volunteers, most majoring in journalism or conversational Chinese, were picked up after three rounds of tests by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), including story writing and role playing.

    After a week-long orientation course on Chinese culture at Tsinghua University as of Monday, they will join the other 292 overseas Olympic volunteers of media operation for training by BOCOG.

    The University of Iowa, started its Olympic training program three years ago, was the first overseas school that built contract with the BOCOG.

NBA’s MVP Kobe Bryant from Lakers will spearhead the 12-man USA Olympic men’s basketball team announced on Monday in Chicago for the Beijing Games this August.     Lebron James (Cleveland), Dwyane Wade (Miami), second time Olympians, and Olympic debutant Chris Paul (New Orleans) were also included in the squad, which the USA Olympic Committee hopes to capture the gold medal in Beijing after a bronze-medal showing in Athens four years ago.

    They were joined by Carmelo Anthony (Denver), Jason Kidd (Dallas), Dwight Howard (Orlando), Michael Redd (Milwaukee), Deron Williams (Utah), Carlos Boozer (Utah), Chris Bosh (Toronto) and Tayshaun Prince (Detroit).

    Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski is head coach of the USA team. Serving as assistant coaches are Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim, New York Knicks head mentor Mike D’Antoni and Portland Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.

    “This has been, to say the least, an extremely difficult selection process. The 33 players who committed to be part of the USA national team program and have been involved in our various training camps and competitions the past two summers deserve recognition and acknowledgment for their contributions and for their commitment to their country,” said Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Basketball and chairman of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.

    ”It’s already been proven that a group of all-stars does not necessarily ensure that you’re going to win,” he said, “You need scorers, you need size, you need distributors, you need role players and we’ve stayed true to that.”

    The team features six guards and five forwards with Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic the only regular center named in the team.

    ”Our team has excellent athleticism and great versatility. We have players who are experienced in the international game thanks to the last two summers’ training and competitions. I feel really good where we are, we have the foundation in but we have a lot work ahead, “Krzyzewski said.

    He added that team defense will decide whether his team can win the gold medal.

    The United States got a disappointing bronze medal in Athens Olympics in 2004, and also finished third at the world championship in Japan two years ago.

    The United States will begin its first training in Las Vegas on Friday and play a series of exhibition games against other NBA players, as well as other countries’ teams in July and August.

    The U.S., placed in preliminary Group B in Beijing, opens play against host China on August 10. Among the Group, they will also play African champion Angola, world champion Spain and two qualifiers who will be determined through July 14-20 FIBA world Olympic qualifying tournament.

China announced its Olympic table tennis squad in a news conference of the State General Administration of Sports here on Tuesday.    ”Ma Lin, Wang Hao and Wang Liqin will play for the men’s team, while Guo Yue, Zhang Yining and Wang Nan will play for the women’s team,” Liu Fengyan, director of the National Table Tennis and Badminton Center of the State General Administration of Sports, said.

    ”The substitutes will be Chen Qi for the men’s team, and Li Xiaoxia for the women’s team,” added the director.

    According to Liu, the Chinese table tennis men’s team will go to Xiamen for a one-month training from June 21, while at the same time the women’s team will take the practise run in Zhengding.

Quoted prices for hotel stays in Beijing during the summer Olympics has jumped up by four to ten times higher than normal, said China’s biggest online booking provider Ctrip.com International Ltd.     The travel booking company said on Friday that its online hotel reservation data show that standard hotel rooms in four and five star-ranking hotels during the August Olympics have been nearly booked out.

    ”Only some 20 hotels in Beijing still have rooms available for reservations by foreign tourists during the period. However, mostly probably, only luxury suites are left for them to choose,” said Tang Xiaofeng, senior hotel business development manager of Ctrip.com.

    The website provides updated hotel-room reservation information of 500 of Beijing’s total 800 star-ranking tourist hotels. Nationwide, it has links with 2,800 hotels.

    A receptionist at the Jinlun Hotel, a four-star hotel seated by the side of Beijing’s east-west axis Chang’an Avenue said that all of the hotel rooms have been booked out during the Beijing Olympics with the daily price for a standard room quoted at 6,000 yuan (833 U.S. dollars), as compared to 1,008 yuan (140 U.S. dollars) at present.

    Tang said that most hotels in Beijing require hotel bookers to pay full price in advance for staying during the event. Hotels would not refund the money if customers changed schedules or cancelled reservations.

    He said as hotel rooms in Beijing are getting hotter, many hotels only receive customers who prepare to stay longer than five days in August.

    Beijing is gearing up to accommodate about 500,000 foreigners during the Games, along with huge numbers of domestic tourists.

    Besides tourist hotels and public lodging houses and inns, Beijing will also provide 1,000 officially designated “Olympic Family Hotels” to accommodate the visitors. The cost of each “Olympic Family Hotel” is 50 to 80 dollars per night.

    The Shanghai-based Ctrip.com also found the hotel price in Beijing Olympics’ co-host cities, such as Qingdao and Shenyang would rise by 30-40 percent during the event. The east China coast city of Qingdao, which is also a popular beachside resort city in summer, will see price rises of 50-100 percent higher than normal days during the Games.

About two months to go, the Beijing Olympic organizers pledged on Tuesday to fend off on any illegal advertising related to the Games.     Chen Feng, deputy director of the marketing department of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee (BOCOG), told a press conference that Beijing would strengthen the clampdown on violations of Olympics related patents, trademarks and copyrights during the Aug.8-24 Games.

    ”From July 11, all prominent advertising space in Beijing, including at the airport and on subway lines, will be controlled, giving official sponsors priority,” said Chen.

    ”Companies will be monitored for illegal advertising and serious action will be taken against violators.”

    Ambush marketing is a form of sports marketing. It becomes a problem when a company tries to create an unauthorized association between its name, its brand, and the Olympics.

    While multinationals like Coca-Cola and Samsung paid tens of millions of U.S. dollars to link their names with the Beijing Olympics, ambush marketers try to use the publicity surrounding the games to promote their products without paying for the right.

    Chen said spectators will also be under careful scrutiny for possible unauthorized advertising.

    ”If a group of spectators wear the same clothes, then it is suspicious,” he said. “We will then talk with them and try to stop it.”

    BOCOG and the China Advertising Association issued a written proposal aimed at joint anti-ambush marketing.

    The proposal states that advertising agencies should increase their understanding of Olympic marketing regulations, respect professional ethics, and not engage in ambush marketing activities.