Liu Jian talks in detail about the Olympic volunteer project.

BEIJING, January 8, 2008 -- Director Liu Jian of the Volunteer Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) discussed on Tuesday morning the Beijing Olympic Volunteer Program with those present at a press conference at the Beijing Olympic Media Center.

Following is Liu's account of the volunteer program as it stands.

The volunteer program has received widespread attention and concern from the public since launching on June 5, 2005. The plan called for the recruitment of a total of 100,000 volunteers for the Olympics and Paralympics, in addition to 400,000 city volunteers to provide information, language, emergency and other services in the city and around the venues.

Volunteer applicant pool reaches 800,000

The Beijing Olympic Volunteer Program consists of six working projects (The "Towards Olympics" Voluntary Service Project, The BOCOG Pre-Games Volunteer Project, The Games-time Volunteer Project, The City Volunteer Project, The Social Volunteer Project, The Olympic Volunteer Work Legacy Transformation Project) and the "Smile Beijing" theme campaign.

The applicant pool has already reached 800,000, setting an Olympic volunteer record. More than 20,000 volunteer applicants were invited to serve during the "Good Luck Beijing" sport events in 2007.

At the end of 2007, approximately 80 percent of the volunteers required for the Olympic and Paralympic Games had been initially confirmed.

Scene of the press conference