International Style Embodied in Three Test Competitions

Three test events of swimming, table tennis and athletics were successively held in Jinjiang’s brand new Gymnasiade stadiums from May 15th to 29th. The brilliant sports venues and games of international standards received praises from both sportsmen and audiences

Laurent Petrynka, Chairman of International School Sport Federation (ISF), was highly attentive to the test events. On the afternoon of May 16th, he gave credits to the gyms with futuristic tech and the various audience activities planned and arranged by Jinjiang Economy News.

"Here, on behalf of ISF, I send my congratulations to @Jinjiang Gymnasiade Sports Center. The high-tech Dolphin lifesaving system inside the gymnasium ensures full coverage of underwa⁃ ter monitoring. And it’s amazing that the pool water even meets the drinkable standard!" "My compliment also goes to @Jinjiang Economy News. It organized the citizen audiences, student jour⁃ nalists and parent-child group to cheer for the athletes."

All these three competitions passed the test with flying colors, which reinforced Jinjiang’s confidence to host the upcoming Gymnasiade.

High-end sports venues

At the Chinese Middle School Swimming Challenge (Jinjiang) & the Swimming Test Com⁃ petition of ISF Jinjiang 2020 Gymnasiade, the swimming and diving stadium in Jinjiang Gym⁃ nasiade Sports Center made its debut in front of the national athletes. “This stadium is one of the best I’ve ever played in and is fully comparable to a world-class venue,”said Wang Jing, a competitor from the Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University.
According to Lin Jinting, a staff member of the operator, the swimming pool maintains a constant temperature between 26℃ and 28℃ . "The stadium adopts a filtration and disinfection system often used for high- level competitions. Together with special equipment, the water quali⁃ ty is kept at a drinkable level."

In addition, the stadium is equipped with a futuristic technology, the Dolphin lifesaving system. "Underwater cameras with intelligent sen⁃ sors are installed at four specific locations in the swimming pool. Each has a viewing angle over 90 degrees to ensure full coverage and no blind spots." According to Lin Jinting, the cam⁃ eras are working 24 hours a day. If any danger comes up, the system will sound the alarm promptly to assist the lifeguards to spot the drowning person within 15 seconds, and at the same time a message with the specific location will be sent to the monitoring room.

The Chinese Middle School Table Tennis Championship & the Table Tennis Test Competi⁃ tion of the Gymnasiade were held in Jinlong Gymnasium of Fuzhou University Science and Education Park. On 16 high- standard courts, blue table tennis tables are neatly placed, with seats for technical officials and referees on ei⁃ ther side and a TV for real-time scoring along⁃ side.

"I’m very impressed with the Jinlong gym⁃ nasium. The lighting, tables, electronic screens, and other facilities are very professional. This is the first time I’ve played in such a good venue," said Sun Yanhao, a player from the Sec⁃ ond High School Attached to Beijing Normal University.

Jinjiang Youth Sports School also harvested a wave of praise in the Quanzhou Children's Track & Field Championship & the Athletics Test Competition of the Gymnasiade.“The stadi⁃ um in Jinjiang Youth Sports School reaches in⁃ ternational standards and has been accredited by the Chinese Athletics Association as a firstclass venue for sports competition,”said Wu Ji⁃ ancai, deputy director of the Athletics Competi⁃ tion Committee and headmaster of Jinjiang Youth Sports School.

Professional referee teams

The professional referee teams are the highlight of the test events, with 318 technical officials involved in refereeing.

Making arrangements, doing roll- call, timing, giving starting orders, announcing results and providing live com⁃ mentary…All of these were carried out perfectly by the referees according to the Gymnasiade standards during the swimming test competition, thus securing the smooth progress of the event

"We have a rather high quality referee team, includ⁃ ing 73 technical officials with experience in the Asian Games, World Military Games, World Aquatics Champion⁃ ships, as well as referees who are going to take part in the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games," introduced Wen Yuhong, chief referee for the swimming games.

The track and field referee team is also impressively professional with their high proficiency, effective team⁃ work and great discipline. Chen Wenbin, the event direc⁃ tor, said that there are 154 technical staff members in track and field games, including 10 national-level techni⁃ cal officials who are also international referees, which reaches a fairly high standard.

Among the 91 technical officials in the table tennis test competition, there are 11 international referees, as well as more than 70 provincial referees selected by Fuji⁃ an Table Tennis Association.

During the competition, the referee teams' spirit and professional level made the arbitration committee humor⁃ ously concerned about "unemployment" themselves. The referee teams showed concentrated, dedicated and pru⁃ dent quality in controlling game rhythm, dispatching on the site, presenting awards, broadcasting bilingually, and switching music during and post competitions.

Considerate volunteer service

No matter it was giving directions, transporting materials, or assisting in awards ceremonies, volunteers in red T- shirts could be seen everywhere during the test games. Though wearing masks, their smile was heartwarming to the contestants and their enthusias⁃ tic service added luster to the trials.

There were 159, 165 and 300 volunteers respectively in the three test events, which were the first "drill" of volunteers for ISF Jinjiang 2020 Gymnasiade.

Prior to the trials, volunteers from colleges and universities had received strict "pre-job training". As arranged, the volunteers serving in the test matches were carefully recruited according to the requirements of the Gymnasiade, and the serving positions were also consistent with the real games.

"when we arrive in Jinjiang, there are volunteers all the way to help us. In the hotel, they guide us to check in and to dine, and accompany us to the stadium. We don't have to ask or find the way on our own. We just focus on the competition. It really saves us a lot of energy," acclaimed Yang Jiancai, coach of the team from Quanzhou Taiwanese Investment Zone, after participat⁃ ing in the track and field test games.

In the test events, the Gymnasiade Organizing Committee set up a number of special teams to provide support in volunteering, medical care, security, communication, electricity and so on. All of them carried out their duties and dedicated themselves in their re⁃ spective posts, interpreting Gymnasiade's concept of "Better Us, Better Future" with actions.

Sidelights

Audiences cheering for the athletes

Among the audiences attending the three test competitions were citizen observ⁃ ers, parent-child group and student report⁃ ers organized by our newspaper.

The citizen observers not only experi⁃ enced the atmosphere of the games but al⁃ so held a forum to share their feelings af⁃ ter watching the competition. They put for⁃ ward quite a few suggestions and opinions on the preparation for the Gymnasiade.

Lin Shengxiang, from Quanzhou Voca⁃ tional and Technical University, suggested holding an open day for more students to visit the major stadiums in Jinjiang and to feel the atmosphere of the Gymnasiade in advance.

The parent- child group of 450 fans organized by our newspaper went cheer for the contestants at the test venues for swimming competition and the track and field events, where they were deeply moved by the feverish atmosphere.

Moreover, our newspaper organized nearly 500 student reporters to watch the competitions. Wearing uniform vests, they enjoyed the games with enthusiasm. Then some of them also got the opportunity to follow our journalist into the mixed zone, where they learned about the events and interviewed the winners.

  策划：秦 娴 

  执行：李诗怡 刘泽宇 林小杰 秦 越 

  翻译：许剑辉 许凌逸 陈承雄