Three hundred and thirty-seven hostesses for the Olympic victory ceremonies will graduate tomorrow after two months of training.
"I've always dreamed of being a hostess for the table tennis athletes," Yang Xu, 19, one of the lucky ones to be selected from 5,000 candidates who had applied for the job, said.
The slim, 170 cm tall Yang has been trained in dancing, etiquette, and basic Olympic-related knowledge.
A make-up artist adds blush to an Olympic medal hostess' face in Beijing, July 23, 2008. A total of 337 medal hostesses have wrapped up training and are ready for the Olympics. [Xinhua] More Photos |
BOCOG selected 297 candidates from a dozen Beijing colleges, Wang Ning, deputy division chief of the sport representation and victory ceremony division of the culture and ceremonies department, BOCOG, said.
Another 40 were selected from 1,700 candidates from Shanghai's top universities, Wang said.
Yang said she had been selected in May. The selection was done at her college, Beijing Yixian Professional Education Institute.
"It is a great opportunity, as China has been longing to host the Olympics for years. I simply want to be part of it for the experience and to improve myself," Yang said.
Her views were shared by many other women, including a pair of 19-year-old twins Li Ziye and Li Xiaoye.
The twins stood out among the candidates for their charm and beauty.
They said they will probably be the hostesses for the first gold medal of the Games, the shooting competition.
They had undergone a strict routine from 6:30 am to 11:00 pm. They would run and do exercises in the morning and then it was off to classes until 8: 30 pm.
The training was hard work but there were lighter moments too, Li Ziye said.
She said they were trained to smile with only eight teeth exposed and look at flashing cameras without blinking.
"We were taught not to blink even if we had tears in our eyes," Li Ziye said.
Li Xiaoye said: "People always confused my sister for me. My teacher sometimes blamed me for something my sister had done."
Many have made good friends during the training because of the shared experiences.
"I've made many new friends here. They helped me a lot, which touched me sometimes deeply," Yang said.
"The victory ceremonies will be one of the highlights of China's Olympics," Cai Fuchao, vice-mayor of Beijing, said on Sunday.