BEIJING - The Athletes Village at the Beijing Olympics will be as good as any at previous Games and give guests a real taste of China, table tennis great Deng Yaping said on Tuesday.
The four-times Olympic champion, now deputy director of the Village, said organisers hoped to give the 16,000 athletes and officials a feel of China's long history and rich culture, without disrupting their preparations.
"We want all the athletes and officials to know they are living in the Beijing Olympic Village and not anywhere else," said Deng, who won two gold medals at both the Barcelona and Atlanta Games.
"We hope they will be impressed by the Chinese characteristics of the Village.
"It is a bit difficult because the Village is a place for the athletes to rest. We will try our best to provide cultural activities but to retain a balance between the activities and the athletes' needs."
With such a long history, officials are having some difficulty in deciding what to include in the cultural programme, but exposing their guests to genuine Chinese cuisine would definitely be part of the plan, Deng said.
"Chinese food is popular around the world but if you have Chinese food in the UK, for example, the flavour is slightly different," she said.
"Beijing duck in London and Beijing duck in Beijing is totally different. I don't know which one is better, we'll let the athletes and officials decide."
SECURITY
Deng, who is working with the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games(BOCOG) and studying for a PhD at Britain's Cambridge University, said the desire for exposure to other cultures was not all one way.
"A lot of Chinese people want to take advantage of the Olympic Games to learn more about the world," she said.
Deng said security was not the responsibility of her department but she was certain it would be tight.
"For sure, the Athletes Village will be heavily protected," she said. "We don't want anything to happen in our village."
The Village will open on July 27, two weeks before the Games officially open on August 8.
