Working behind the scenes at the Beijing Olympics

The thousands of journalists covering the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games have the fortune of having one of the world's largest and most modern media centers at their disposal. Radio86 interviewed Matti Varheenmaa from Lenovo, China's largest PC company and one of the main commercial partners of the Games, about the work that goes on behind the scenes at the world's biggest sports event.

"We run a customer service center at the main Olympic media center. We are mainly in charge of hardware maintenance, software updates and stuff like that. I work there daily to ensure that the daily routines of foreign journalists and other international matters flow smoothly. I also see to it that any possible complaints or flared up situations are handled accordingly," Varhenmaa says.

Varheenmaa works as a project manager at Lenovo's service department in Beijing. As he is one of only a handful of foreigners there, going to the Olympics was pretty much a sure call.

Top of the line amenities

The main Olympic press center provides work space for thousands of journalists, and it is also the nerve center for Olympics information, where all the official press conferences are held.

"Yes, it is quite unsurpassed in size, no doubt about it. It is a three-story complex, or the building is actually even bigger, but three floors have been reserved for this purpose. All of the main partners of the Olympic Games have their own offices there, and there is also a bank, a post office and mobile services in the building."

"The space reserved for the journalists is very big and well designed, and there are workrooms on three floors. On the ground and middle floors you have two bigger rooms, each of which can accommodate at least 1,000 reporters at a time. In addition, all the news agencies have their own offices here. Helsingin Sanomat and Iltasanomat count among those major Finnish newspapers that have people working here."

A total of about 20,000 reporters arrived in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games. The first foreign reporters arrived in the media center a couple weeks before the start of the Games, which is when Varheenmaa also settled in his new workplace. The majority of journalists arrived during the opening week. Varheenmaa says that the journalists have by enlarge been very happy with their own work evironment. However, China's internet restrictions did spark some discussion in international media ahead of the Games.

"Personally, I haven't heard any comments related to the censorship issue, but I can believe it to be true that some sites have been banned. In any case, all of the biggest sites are accessible from here, even those that don't work if you try from home," Varheenmaa says.

Journalists have workrooms on three floors. (Image: China News Service)So far, there have not been any major malfunctions in the operations of the media center. At times, language problems engender minor misunderstandings between the organizers and foreign journalists, but according to Varheenmaa, even those situations have been handled professionally.

Varheenmaa says that his own experience shows that, if possible, it is best to communicate in Chinese when it comes to work-related matters.

"Since I work for a Chinese company, and since we have a staff of about 1,500 people, of which only about three are foreigners, it's absolutely necessary to speak some Chinese from time to time. I don't speak it that well, but I can handle the work vocabulary, so it's really not a problem. I also often speak Chinese just for the sake of convenience, to make sure that things are clear from the get-go. This way, we try to avoid situations where a lot of work goes to waste because of a misunderstood sentence."

A well-deserved vacation awaits

The media center is located near the main Olympic venues and the Olympic Village. Varheenmaa says that before the start of the Games, he had the chance to take a quick walk around the sparkling new Bird's Nest Stadium and the Water Cube aquatics center. Still, it's difficult to find time for a full tour of the sites, because during the Games he is on call between12 and 14 hours a day, weekends included.

But what's your personal view of the Olympics?

"Well, that's a difficult question," Varheenmaa laughs. "It has been very interesting to see this side of the Olympic machine. It has been very educational and fun, and it's really great to see the fruits of your labor, and experience this for yourself. On the flip side, workdays can be very long and some problems that come up are not always so simple to solve. In addition, you always have to be very meticulous with all your doings, in order to avoid any major mistakes. But all in all, this has been a very interesting experience -- although I think I will definitely be in need of a vacation once this show wraps up."