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Jeannette Westerdijk has been living in Beijing for four years. She is so at home here that she feels like a local. "I want to play the role of a good host and show the city in all its splendour to people from all over the world," she said last Friday.

Watching her three children take part in a celebration at school, she laughed: "They love to be part of it, too."

Her children, among the dozens on stage with the five Olympic mascots and a big banner unfurled over the entire audience, attend the Beijing City International School, or BCIS in short.

The occasion marked the beginning of the 700-day countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. BCIS also announced that it had been awarded the status of "Olympic Education Model School," one of two international schools so honoured. Nationwide, there are 500 schools that have received this honour, 200 of which are located in Beijing.

Students from the No. 2 Experimental School and No. 4 Middle High School, both Beijing-based Olympic Education Model Schools, also participated in the festivity.

Julian Williams, head of BCIS, said that he wanted his students to be "curious inquirers with a thirst for knowledge and open-minded thinkers and doers with initiative." He added: "We want them to embrace values like compassion, selflessness, courage, determination and integrity."

To illustrate the inspiration for these values, students from BCIS and the other two participating schools took turns telling stories about their heroes - athletes who beat great odds and manifested true Olympic spirit.

Dorando Pietri was one such hero. During the 1908 London Games, he entered the stadium at the end of the marathon in a daze, headed in the wrong direction and then collapsed. Concerned officials helped him reach the finish line in first position and he was disqualified for receiving outside aid, but the royal family was so moved that it gave him a golden cup similar to the champion's.

"He taught me that nothing is more important than participation," said Ao Zhengmeng, a student from Beijing's No.2 Experimental Primary School, who recited the story.

Not all Olympic heroes are from the past or live in remote places. Li Lingwei, the "Queen of Badminton," recently came to BCIS and answered students' questions. Explaining to Amelia Wills, the 12-year-old 7th grader from the US, about her 38 world championships, Li surprised everyone by revealing that when young she was considered the least talented in her class.

"I thought about giving up, but then I thought about all the encouragement my family had given me," she said. "The most important thing is not to give up when faced with difficulties."

He Zhenliang, a Chinese IOC member, has been called "Mr Olympics." He serves as a bridge connecting Chinese sport with the rest of the world, introducing the progress of his motherland to his IOC colleagues and relaying their feedback to people in China. When Beijing won the bid for the 2008 Olympics on July 13, 2001, he gushed: "I'm proud of my country. I'm proud of my people."

Recalling that moment, he told the BCIS children: "That was how I felt then, and is how I feel today." He said it was refreshing to spend time with people so much younger.

"I'm an old guy, and it makes me feel young again."

Answering questions from students, he said that the Olympic heroes whose deeds they recounted should inspire all of them. "If we remember them, we'll benefit all our lives."

Looking over the 230 students from 34 countries, he added: "It is my dream that we, like you kids, attain harmony among different races. It will take generations of effort."

(China Daily September 15, 2006)