¡¡¡¡BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhuanet) --Former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch had advised Beijing to attach greater importance to the after-Games utilization of new sports facilities when he paid a short visit to BOCOG headquarters on the evening of July 8.

¡¡¡¡"Preparations for the new sports facilities will not be a problem (for Beijing), what you have to think when building new sports sites is the use of them after the Olympics,'' he told BOCOG¡¯s ranking officials.

¡¡¡¡Samaranch said he was pleased to notice that BOCOG had indeed focused on this issue.

¡¡¡¡"The success of the 2008 Games need not only excellent organization, but also more participation. You need to participate in more sports and events at the 2008 Games than ever, and you need to win more medals than ever," he told his BOCOG friends.

¡¡¡¡"You have done a lot of things in the last two years (after winning the bid) and I am sure that Beijing can achieve the goal of finishing construction a year before the Games, by 2007,'' he added.

¡¡¡¡Samaranch said Spain is willing to share the experience it had gained in hosting the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with Beijing to help the city achieve a greater success.

¡¡¡¡He said for its part the Spanish side is also expected to aid China through a China-Spain Forum to improve the country's level in some sports such as tennis, football and hockey. Samaranch is the co-chair of the newly-established forum.

¡¡¡¡He said the forum will help Spanish enterprises gain greater opportunities in the area of gymnasium construction for the 2008 Olympic Games.

¡¡¡¡BOCOG Executive Vice President Liu Jingmin expressed his gratitude to Samaranch for his valuable suggestions.

¡¡¡¡"We have followed many of them,'' said Liu, adding that the committee had listened keenly to the international community, inviting many foreign experts advice, when it came to making decisions on venue construction.

¡¡¡¡"We place much significance on multi-function and cost-effectiveness during the construction,'' he said. Enditem (Source: beijing-olympic.org.cn)