"The Games of the 29th Olympiad in 2008 are awarded to the city of Beijing."

The International Olympic Committee selected the Chinese capital as the 2008 host in Friday's vote during Juan Antonio Samaranch's last IOC session as president.The attraction of staging the Games in a country which has the world's largest population, as well as huge economic potential, won the IOC's heart.

Beijing defeated four other bidding cities, including Toronto and Paris, to secure the country's first-ever Olympics. Osaka was the first city to go out, and it only took one more round for Beijing to win the Olympic race.

The announcement, read out by the 81-year-old Samaranch, was answered with wild jubilation from the Chinese delegation in Moscow, and with fireworks in Beijing.IOC senior member Kim Un-Yong said after the voting that Beijing deserved the Olympic Games.

"Beijing is capable of staging a great Olympic Games," said the 71-year-old South Korean. "The result wasn't a surprise to me."

With the motto "New Beijing, Great Olympics", Beijing promises to host a "Green Olympics", a "Hi-tech Olympics" and the "People's Olympics".
The 3,000-year-old city is becoming a truly international city and showing a new, vigorous image through its ongoing economic reforms.

Beijing enjoys the widest popular support among the five bidding cities. A Gallup opinion poll commissioned by the government showed 94.9 percent of the public in favor of it. The IOC's own surveys found support even higher. The Chinese government has pledged to spend 20 billion U.S. dollars building sports complexes and refurbishing the Beijing infrastructure. There are plans for a new exhibition center with twin skyscrapers that could be taller than any in the world.