Swimmer Ryan Gambin, who is representing Malta, will be aiming to qualify to take part in next summer’s Beijing Olympic Games this week, during the European Championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, which start today.

The Malta Independent had announced earlier this month that Gambin has come over from Australia to represent the country. But he needs to qualify to be able to take part in the Beijing Games. He has already reached the qualifying time, but because of the fact that he has not yet taken part in a world, or European championship, he will have to do it all over again.

Maltese Olympic Committee president Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, said he was quite confident that Gambin will be able to qualify.

The swimmer has already set some national records since arriving in Malta (at a time trials organised by ASA Malta).

Ryan is optimistic in achieving the qualifying standard – especially in the 100m fly, where he is already hitting 54.34 sec, which is his personal best. His aim is to improve on this timing.

To achieve his ambition, Ryan is training hard every day with two training sessions, one in the morning at the national swimming pool and another in the afternoon, doing mostly gym sessions.

At the recent swimming time trials organised by the ASA Malta, Ryan broke an incredible number of national records – in the 100m fly with a finish of 55.74secs (previous record stood at 58.41secs), the 50m fly with a 25.06 secs (previous record stood at 26.93 secs), the 50m free with a 24.70 secs (previous record stood at 25.20 sec), and the 50m back with a 28.37 secs (previous record stood at 29.88 secs).

Teams and athletes from 40 European countries will be competing in three disciplines: swimming, diving and synchronised swimming.

Gambin’s participation was made possible through the partnership agreement that the Maltese Olympic Committee has with Malta International Airport.

Gambin, 22 years of age, has been practising his sport since 1992. He will be Malta’s only representative in these Championships, and will be competing in a number of categories including the 50m free/fly/back and the 100m fly; in the 50m free and 100m fly he will also be trying to make the Beijing Olympic Games qualifying times of 23.13sec and 54.71sec respectively. Ryan will have a busy schedule and will be in action from today.

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MIA Olympic Special – What’s On

Friday, 21 March on E22 at 9pm , Sunday, 23 March on E22 at 10am (RPT) and on TVM at 5.25pm, and Monday, 24 March on E22 at 2.30pm (RPT) will feature the following:

Featured Event - Beijing 2008 Stamp launch

As part of the preparation for the coming Olympics the Malta Olympic Committee in collaboration with Maltapost launched the Beijing Olympic Games stamp set. This great event is now just months away and in the coming weeks we will get to know more on these Games, the Maltese participation and more.

Highlighted Event – Sailing/Tennis

The British Airways Junior Tennis Tournament is being held at the Marsa Sports Club. The participation in this tournament is encouraging and even the level shown by the tennis players is sending positive messages. The cameras of MIA Olympic Magazine visited the Marsa Sports Club to bring you a clear picture of the proceedings.

The Malta Young Sailors Club organised the Foundation Day Regatta at their Club. Races were held on Saturday and Sunday with the fine weather in our islands helping in having a good event.

Olympic Archive

A trip down memory lane will make us recall past editions of the Olympic Games.

Schedule available every week on www.nocmalta.org and on the Malta Independent newspaper every Tuesday. Produced in collaboration with E22.

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Bird’s Nest to be completed in May

The iconic "Bird’s Nest" National Stadium, the main venue for Olympic events, is expected to be completed in May, a Beijing Municipal Construction Committee spokesman said.

The stadium would undergo tests of its equipment and performance stage for the opening ceremony. Also, lawn areas would be sodded during March. The whole project would be completed in May, said the spokesman.

The Olympic National Park, China National Convention Centre, Olympic village and Olympic media village would also be completed in March and April.

These projects are part of Beijing’s overall construction plan, which includes 127 projects, 53 to be completed this year, the spokesman said. He didn’t give a schedule for the other projects.

All key projects on the list relate to the Olympics or to transportation, environmental protection, residents’ livelihood, modern industries and energy resources.

The "Bird’s Nest" has the world’s most advanced screening and omni-directional systems, together with mobile seating.

It will be used for large sports events, conventional competitions and non-competitive events, as well as to provide wide-ranging entertainment and sporting facilities to residents after the Games.

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China promises splendid opening ceremony

Director Zhang Yimou promised to present a splendid opening ceremony for the upcoming Olympic Games, and a surprise to the world.

The mass rehearsals of the ceremony with some 10,000 actors and actresses have started at different places in the suburbs of Beijing, he disclosed to the press covering the current parliamentarian session.

Zhang Yimou, a famed Chinese film director and Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies general director, said what worries him most is rain on 8 August. If that happens, some above ground performances would have to be cancelled and some high-tech machinery operations would be affected. "I pray for good weather," he joked.

Asked whether he will apply his favourite color of red to the opening, he gave an affirmative nod, saying "certainly." However, he continued, a monotonous color can not speak for an opening ceremony, it should be colourful and splendid.

He said he admired the Athens Games opening, but eyed a better one for the Beijing Games. "That is our common wish, which relies on the joint efforts of our team," he said.

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Maltapost’s commemorative stamp set for the Beijing Games

Maltapost Chief Executive Officer Josef Gafa presents two sets of stamps issued on the occasion of past Olympic Games to the Maltese Olympic Committee president Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco. These are to be made use of in the MOC Museum, which is expected to be set up shortly. This presentation followed that of the current issue of the commemorative three-stamp set issued recently on the occasion of the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games