IOC holds a news conference in Beijing on Oct,26,2006.

The swimming finals and much of the gymnastics at the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be held in the morning, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Thursday in Beijing.

The competition schedule for the Games had finally been agreed by the IOC's executive board "after a thorough consultation¹ process", IOC coordination² commission chairman Hein Verbruggen said at a news conference.

The team and all-round individual events in the gymnastics are set for the morning, although the individual apparatus³ events will be contested in evening sessions.

All the track and field finals will take place in the evening with the customary exception of the marathon.

The proposed morning shift for the swimming finals caused uproar⁴ when the news was leaked earlier this year, with some swimmers accusing the IOC of putting the interests of US broadcaster NBC before the needs of the athletes.

"I would like to deny that we are doing the bidding of certain broadcasters," Verbruggen said.

"It has always been like this, the schedule is always the result of a thorough consultation process and what comes out of this is a compromise. For example, in Seoul in 1988, many events were held in the morning.

"The impression being given is that this is a special case, this is not true."