Feb.11 - The Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) has been given largest-ever press accreditation quotas for the 2008 Olympic Games, Xinhua reported citing a senior official at the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) on Friday.

 

"Compared to Athens 2004, there will be a considerable increase in COC's press quotas for Beijing 2008 as China plays host to the Games," BOCOG's executive vice president Jiang Xiaoyu told reporters.

 

But he refused to give the exact number.

 

The COC was allocated about 100 press accreditations for Athens 2004, excluding 80 quotas directly given by the International Olympic Committee to Xinhua News Agency, China's official news agency.

 

According to BOCOG, the overall press quota for the Beijing Games has been capped at 5,600, the same as for Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.

 

The two-stage accreditation process, involving the Press by Number process followed by the Press by Name process, will start in March when BOCOG distributes the Press by Number forms to all Olympic Committees, the IOC said last year.