Swiss athletes must conquer the Great Wall

Selection for Beijing is not going to be easy Keystone

The Swiss Olympic Association says athletes wanting to go to the Beijing Olympics next year should show the potential to come in the top ten of their sport.

The president of Swiss Olympic, Jörg Schild, told a news conference in Zurich on Tuesday that the challenge of Beijing 2008 for the Swiss was similar to the Great Wall of China. However, tennis ace Roger Federer will have no problems to qualify.

“The Wall is long, high and steep but conquerable. And we have to conquer it,” he said.

Schild said that he hoped that “we will already have a few medals and diplomas to our credit in a year’s time”.

However, he said it was not going to be easy for athletes to conquer “The Wall” because the selection procedures were more stringent than for Athens in 2006.

The head of the Swiss Olympic delegation, Werner Augsburger, pointed out that there would be exceptions.

Special status

“Track and field sports as well as swimming enjoy a kind of special status. In some disciplines a semi-final qualification, that means a place in the top 16, will suffice,” he said.

Swiss Olympic said that there would be no problem for tennis star Roger Federer to qualify to compete in China.

Federer, who is world number one and top of the singles rankings of the ATP, must be at least in 48th position on June 9, 2008 to be able to book his ticket for the event.

Even if Federer were to win no more games till then, he would still be about 12th in the rankings, way above the selection limit.

Swiss Olympic said a task force had worked out measures to prepare the athletes for the particular conditions they will face in Beijing, notably heat, smog, jet lag and infections.

Aggressive

“The environment is nowhere as aggressive as in Beijing,” warned the association’s chief medical officer, Dr Beat Villiger.

“We will try to reduce the number of those [athletes] who have to opt out through illness with strict hygiene and a special vaccination programme,” he said.

Villiger also made a plea for athletes to be able to arrive in plenty of time for the Beijing Games. “The acclimatisation time is about two weeks,” he noted.

Many athletes are already planning a training camp in southeast Asia before the event.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Beijing has a population of around 15 million.
Financial investment related to the Olympics is estimated at SFr41 billion ($34.3 billion).
31 Olympic sites are being built for the 17-day event in August 2008.
Around 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries are to take part and more than 500,000 foreign visitors are expected in Beijing and six other host cities.
302 events are planned in 38 Olympic disciplines.
The Beijing organising committee is implementing a number of measures in a bid to cut pollution.
In total, they will spend SFr14.3 billion making environmental improvements, such as relocating factories, improving water treatment centres and updating the transport infrastructure. They recently decided to carry out an experimental three-day ban on cars in Beijing city centre.