BMX, or bicycle motocross, will make its debut as an official event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. On August 20, 2007, the 2007 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup will be held at the newly-built Laoshan Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) Venue in west Beijing. To greet their first major world tournament since the completion of the venue, the entire team of the venue has entered into the final stage of preparation for event organization and venue operations.

On the afternoon of August 14, the organizing committee of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup held a press conference in Beijing, briefing the media on preparations for the upcoming event. Cai Jiadong, president of the organizing committee and director of the Cycling and Fencing Administrative Center under the General Administration of Sport of China, Ji Ronghua, president of the organizing committee and secretary of the Shijingshan District Party committee, and Wang Junyan, competition manager of the venue team, attended the press conference and answered questions by the media.

BMX venue in good operation

According to Cai, the Laoshan BMX Venue is adjacent to the Laoshan Velodrome and Laoshan Mountain Bike Course, the three of which make up a cluster of venues for Beijing's Olympic cycling competition. As all the four cycling events - mountain bike, track cycling, road cycling and BMX - have their own characteristics, it makes the organizational work more complicated than that for other sport. Nevertheless, all the preparations are progressing systematically and smoothly.

The team of the Laoshan cycling venues consists of 706 people, including a paid staff of 106 and 600 volunteers. So far, all the staff members have qualified for their work through professional training. According to manager of volunteers Lu Liang, all the volunteers, recruited by the venue team, come from universities in Beijing such as Beijing Technology and Business University and Communication University of China. For example, the 260 volunteers from Beijing Technology and Business University were selected from 7,600 students. Through school training, venue training and post training and rehearsals they are now fully competent for service for various events.

Preparations in smooth progress

"We have invited UCI's experts for on-the-spot design and construction of the BMX track. It will go down in history as the first world-class BMX track for Olympic competition," said Cai proudly.

Covering an area of 1.89 hectares, the Laoshan BMX Venue consists of a competition track, a warming-up track, two temporary stands and a functional building of 1,176 square meters as well as 2,000 seats for spectator and another 190 for the media. According to Zhang Kai, deputy competition manager, the construction of the start slope for the BMX Supercross World Cup will soon be completed. The slope, in the steel frame integrated structure, is excellent in overall performance and is unparalleled in the world today. The successful construction of the slope not only marks the availability of the venue for the "Good Luck Beijing" UCI BMX Supercross World Cup but clearly shows Beijing's determination to deliver a high-tech Olympic Games in 2008.

After making a field survey of the Laoshan BMX tracks, UCI technical representatives Mats Notlind and Johan Lindstram made the following remarks, "This is the best track we have ever seen. If it's not the best in the world, it's one of the best."

Close work by different parties

To guarantee the smooth going of the event preparation, the venue team has attached special importance to the integration of all forces and strengthened ties with different government departments and institutions, including all BOCOG departments, the "Good Luck Beijing" Sport Events Command Center, all peripheral supporting teams, volunteering universities and designated hospitals and hotels, so as to ensure the organic connection between venue operation and city operation.

"While the venue is ready," Cai said, "the road construction, realignment and environmental protection of the surrounding areas have all been completed, which will also play a decisive role in staging a successful World Cup tournament," he added.