Beijing Games swimming finals set for morning

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."

国际奥委会本周四在北京宣布，2008年北京奥运会的游泳及大部分体操项目的决赛都将在上午举行。

国际奥委会协调委员会主席海因·维尔布鲁根在当日举行的新闻发布会上说，经过全面协商，国际奥委会执行委员会最终同意了北京奥运会的竞赛日程安排。

体操团体及个人全能项目的决赛定于上午举行，而体操个人单项的决赛将在晚上举行。

此外，除马拉松外的所有田径项目的决赛被安排在晚上。

今年年初，美国国家广播公司向国际奥委会提出将游泳项目的决赛改在上午举行，这个消息在当时引起轩然大波，一些游泳运动员指责国际奥委会置运动员的需要而不顾，只考虑转播商美国国家广播公司的利益。

维尔布鲁根解释说：“国际奥委会做上述决定并非只是考虑某几家转播商的利益。”

“每届奥运会的竞赛日程安排都是全面协商、多方妥协的结果。比如，1998年汉城奥运会的很多比赛项目就是在上午举行。”

“所以，2008年北京奥运会某些项目的改时并不是特例。”

Vocabulary:

all-round individual events : 个人全能比赛

individual apparatus events : 个人单项比赛