Gisborne wins race as Olympic sculptures host

The provincial city of Gisborne has scored a major coup as the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the Beijing Olympic Sculptures Exhibition.

It has beaten former Olympic host cities and pipped Paris for the right to stage a 110-collection exhibition, regarded as the ambassador for the 2008 Olympics.

The exhibition will be displayed free to the public for three weeks from 9 September in city gardens beside Gisborne’s Taruheru River. It has already attracted 100 million viewers in 13 Chinese cities and in London, Seoul, Los Angeles and Rome.

Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon is delighted by the coup.

“It is a thrill that a small city on the East Coast will be the first to show the sculptures in the Southern Hemisphere. And a thrill also that this enables Beijing’s sister city Wellington to host the exhibition for a few days after us.”

Beijing organising committee’s Australasian project director Shien Joe says Paris was cancelled in favour of Gisborne. The city’s auspicious status as the first city in the world to see the sun rise and the proximity of the exhibition site to the confluence of three rivers helped seal the decision.

“This is very good feng shui and will help bring good luck for both the exhibition and the Beijing Olympic Games now less than a year away.”

ENDS

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