International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge on Saturday spoke highly of Beijing's preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games after inspecting the city's venues, reported China Daily on Monday.

Rogge, who arrived in Beijing on Saturday, visited construction sites at the National Stadium, the main Olympic stadium and the National Swimming Centre.

"I'm pleased with what I have seen. The venues will leave a great legacy for Beijing and China," said Rogge.

"We're quite sure that the Games will be absolutely excellent," added the IOC chief.

In order to save costs and fine-tune the design, Beijing halted construction on several Olympic venues in August amid a nationwide drive to cut down on "white elephant" projects.

The city, which plans to spend about US$37 billion on the Games, is also mulling to adjust the location of five venues planned for the Games.

According to Gilbert Felli, IOC's Olympic Games executive director, the affected sports are softball, baseball, hockey, beach volleyball and tennis.

Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics (BOCOG) wants to move those sports, except for tennis, closer to the Olympic Green, located in the north end of the city.

Rogge said it will be convenient for both athletes and spectators if venues are built within the Olympic Green.

Rogge also opened the debriefing of the Athens Olympics.

Organizers of the Athens Olympic came here to deliver a debriefing which opened yesterday, with future Olympic hosts and five bidding cities for the 2012 Games to learn from the experiences of their predecessor.

Over the next three days, the 25-member Athens delegation headed by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, president of Athens Olympic Organizing Committee, will present a detailed account of the strategic choices.

The Athens Olympic chief said they will try to convey useful information as much as possible to help Beijing organizers host a successful games.

"Nobody doubts that Beijing will be ready on time while many doubted whether Athens would be ready on time," she said.

"Despite these differences, we do think there is valuable information that we can provide you, information that will help you make your Games as meaningful to your nation as our Games to ours."

Liu Qi, president of the BOCOG, said the debriefing offers the Chinese capital a great opportunity to learn from Athens.

Source: China Daily