Epreuve Test Beijing: Conférence de Presse du Président de la FITA

Epreuve Test Olympique – Conférence de Presse du Président de la FITA Beijing– 24 août 2007   Participants à la Conférence de Presse du Président de la FITA:   Ugur ERDENER (Président FITA) Paul H. PAULSEN (Premier Vice Président FITA) Robert C.W. SMITH (Trésorier FITA) Tom DIELEN (Secrétaire Général FITA)   Commentaires en anglais sur l’Epreuve Test   Ugur ERDENER (Président de la FITA)  “The venue and facilities here are excellent and what we need to do in the next one year is to work on some details of communication and coordination.”   Are you satisfied with the organization of this tournament and also other factors such as the weather, venue or wind in Beijing? Do they meet the requirements of the Olympics?      Tom DIELEN, Ugur ERDENER, Paul PAULSEN et Robert SMITH (FITA) Ugur ERDENER (Président de la FITA) “I think everything is ready now and what we need to do is try our best to stage a successful Olympic games.”   Paul H. PAULSEN (Premier Vice Président de la FITA) “The venue is really excellent. And of course the weather is hot and humid here but after a few days you can get used to it. So I think the heat and humidity will not be a problem to the athletes as they will come to Beijing early to adapt themselves to the weather. The service at the venue is pretty good. Maybe the number of volunteers is a little bit high but they are providing a really good service. Of course there are still some things that need to be improved in the future but that’s usual with no exception for any tournament organizer.”   Robert C.W. SMITH (Trésorier de la FITA) “I think the weather is not a problem and the venue greatly helps to protect from the wind. As you may see, though the flags on the top of the venue may be blowing about strongly, the windsocks on the field are only slightly affected by the wind.”   About archery does not enjoy the same popularity as many other sports, what kind of things is FITA doing to promote archery in China and around the world?   Ugur ERDENER (Président de la FITA) “It's a good question. FITA has launched several special projects in recent years to promote archery around the world, which include the World Cup project, TV coverage project and the special programs for ticket sales and sponsors.”   Paul H. PAULSEN (Premier Vice Président de la FITA) “We have also spent a lot of time and effort on the sport presentation of archery in the last few years to set up a more professional image of the sport. With that, archery has received more television coverage and there were 900 million viewers of archery last year. Maybe it is not a big number comparing to some other sports, but for archery it's pretty nice.”   Tom DIELEN (Secrétaire Général de la FITA) “We have strengthened our cooperation with broadcasters all around the world to promote the sport of archery. Our archery highlights program also has a lot of subscribers; the CCTV (China Central Television) is one of them. Chinese archer ZHANG Juan Juan will compete in the World Cup in November this year and I hope that will attract more Chinese media to cover it. Media will definitely help the public learn more about archery.”   Robert C.W. SMITH (Trésorier de la FITA) “We changed the format of the World Championships in 1992 and introduced the matches. We did some modifications in the following years, by which we hope to enhance the excitement of archery and make this sport more understandable. As you can see here, the matches are really enjoyable. We have also divided the World Cup into four stages; there was one in Shanghai last year. Together with the World Championships, this is the way to increase the popularity of archery. We also did some integration to accelerate the game and make it flow more smoothly.”   On the comparison of the volunteers for this test event and the World Championships in Germany last month:   Tom DIELEN (Secrétaire Général de la FITA) “I really like the smile on the faces of volunteers here. Since this tournament is only a test event for the Beijing Games, I can't compare it to a formal competition such as the World Championships. It will be better to answer this question one year later and I think I will be possibly in favour of Beijing at that time.”   Paul H. PAULSEN (Premier Vice Président de la FITA) “The volunteers here have a good attitude and wonderful service. It is what we call human factors. We can take full advantage of the excellent venue and facilities through the human factors.”   Robert C.W. SMITH (Trésorier de la FITA) “From the third day of this tournament, we changed the schedule to accelerate the competition. And thanks to the volunteers, all athletes were informed of the changes in time, which kept the competition running smoothly. It was all handled very well.”   Final Words:   Ugur ERDENER (Président de la FITA) “I am sure it will be the best Olympic Games next year.”   News Service “Good Luck Beijing”