Beijing Olympics organizers have shifted into hyperdrive. Games-related press conferences and other media events are being laid on thick and fast by BOCOG (the acronym for the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games).

Wednesday they corralled an array of experts to field media questions about the latest Olympics-related weather news. Ho-hum, you might say. And in any other country this might not be exactly a headline-grabber. But in pollution-plagued Beijing, authorities are scrambling to perfect ways to change the weather – yup,  the press is hot on the heels of a unit with the Orwellian title of the Weather Modification Office. Its scientists acknowledged they have techniques to “stop the rain” – or “rain mitigation”, as they call it -- for special events like, say, the Summer Olympics opening ceremony on Aug. 8, 2008. (Beijing’s notoriously muggy rainy season begins in July.)

Access to Beijing’s cloud-seeding bases are so much in demand that the capital’s weather czars decided to discourage such press trips. Turns out Beijing’s weather modifiers are too busy giving interviews when they should be perfecting their wild and wonderful methods for taming Mother Nature in time for the Olympics. (I must say, years ago I enjoyed interviewing a weather-modification cadre at a cloud-seeding base in the Western Hills; she confessed she might have lost her job if rain hadn’t subsided on the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic; that day in 1999 the rain stopped about an hour before the big National Day parade.)

On Monday the story of the day was the number of casualties suffered by laborers working on Olympic venues. Earlier the Sunday Times had alleged Beijing was covering up at least ten deaths by laborers killed in construction accidents while working on the National Stadium.

BOCOG shot down the story, claimed an excellent safety record at all its venues, and repeatedly stressed there had been no major accidents during their construction. But with two press events on Monday – the morning’s formal opening of the “water cube” aquatics center, and a BOCOG press conference in the afternoon – the question was sure to come up.

The latest in a series of blog entries introducing top Chinese athletes:

Name: Guo Jingjing (郭晶晶)

Age: 26 (dob: Oct. 15, 1981)

Hometown: Baoding, Hebei Province

Previous Olympic Medals: Silver in Women’s Synchronized 3m Springboard and Silver in Women’s 3m Springboard at Sydney ’00, Gold in Women’s Synchronized 3m Springboard and Gold in Women’s 3m Springboard at Athens ’04

It seemed strange when Guo Jingjing announced on November 23, 2006 that she intended to retire after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. After all, the Baoding-born diver is one of China’s most dominant athletes, having brought home two silver medals from the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and then two golds from Athens in ’04. And most divers remain formidable competitors well into their thirties.

Perhaps Guo wants to retire while she’s still at the top of her game. Or maybe she’s just tired of the Chinese tabloids prying into her private life. The gorgeous Guo admittedly fuels speculation by choosing high-profile partners for her rumored romances. After Athens, she was purportedly involved with fellow Chinese diver and gold medalist Tian Liang. The two even co-starred in a commercial for a Chinese energy drink, during which they reenacted the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet.

But in early 2005, sport czars castigated the pair for “overly indulging in unsanctioned commercial activities.” Guo apologized and remains a top contender in 2008. Tian was not so lucky; both Guo and the national diving team dumped him. Since then, glossy magazines have linked Guo with Kenneth Fok Kai-kong, the playboy grandson of Hong Kong business tycoon Henry Fok.

Now mainland fans worry that Guo has become overly concerned with product endorsements and self-promotion to the detriment of her diving skills (and her celebrity blog only exacerbates the backlash). “I think Guo feels pressure to prove to Chinese fans that she’s more than just a pretty face,” speculates China Daily sports reporter Si Tingting. “She wanted to retire after Athens, but when Beijing won its bid to host the Olympics, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to compete in front of a hometown crowd.” What better way to end such an illustrious career than to win once more and escape public scrutiny by bowing out a champion?

Of all the Olympic "jock stars" who'll be competing in the Summer Games, Liu Xiang is considered China's hottest.  Here's a brief profile of Liu, the first in a series:

Name: Liu Xiang (刘翔)
Age: 24 (dob: Jul. 13, 1983)
Hometown: Shanghai
Previous Olympic Medals: Gold in Men’s 110m Hurdles at Athens ‘04

It might have been easy to dismiss Liu Xiang as a flash in the pan, after he came out of nowhere and clocked a world record-tying time of 12.91 seconds in the men’s 110m hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. But then he broke the world record with a time of 12.88 seconds at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Super Grand Prix in 2006. And then he won the World Championship on August 31, 2007 in Osaka, Japan.

But look out ladies: the first Chinese man ever to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field doesn't have time for dating -- at least not if you ask his coach, who's obviously hoping Liu will best his world record and once again bring home the gold.  "I feel Liu Xiang still has untapped potential, so our task is to bring that potential out at the Olympics... Because he's already taken on so many things, if he were to date as well, he definitely would no have enough time [to realize his potential]," says coach Sun Haipeng, who first convinced Liu, then 15, to try hurdling instead of competing in the high jump.

Games preparations are heating up so much that interviews are taking longer and longer to arrange. Like, four months is still not enough advance notice for an interview with an Olympic athlete? Cui Dalin, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Sport (GASC) apologized for being unable to fit a one-on-one interview into his schedule. Instead he provided written answers to questions submitted by Newsweek. The GASC oversees China’s Olympic athletes and its strategy for winning gold medals. Cui didn't answer all the questions submitted -- check out his response to questions about "Project 119" -- but at least he didn't evade our request completely. Excerpts :

Newsweek: Does China expect to win more gold medals than any other country at the Beijing Summer Games? What are the Chinese team’s hopes and aspirations?

Cui Dalin: We expect Chinese athletes to do well both in spiritual civilization and in gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. We hope they’ll show the audience not only their good sports technique, but especially their progress in weak areas. We hope the Chinese team will try its best to win gold medals...[But] of course our assessment of the Chinese team at the Beijing Olympic Games will not be limited to the number of gold medals they win. They have a comprehensive target including the following four aspects: