Nairobi,
24 August 2010 - Proving her table tennis
swing remains top-class, 18-time Chinese
Olympian Deng Yaping played for the health
of the planet on Monday at the Headquarters
of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) in Nairobi. "I love to play
table tennis. But here's one thing no one
should play with: our planet," she
said as she recorded a UNEP public service
announcement that will soon be broadcast
globally.
By the time she retired
at the age of 24, Ms. Deng had won more
titles in table tennis than any other player
in the sport and was honoured with a coveted
spot in the International Table Tennis Federation
Hall of Fame in 2003.
She began playing just
about the time she could reach the top of
the table at age five and never stopped.
By the time she went to her first Olympics
in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain, she was already
a world champion. She took home a gold medal
in both the singles and doubles and went
on to repeat the feat four years later at
the Games in Atlanta, Georgia.
Today, she works with
youth as Vice President of the Beijing Youth
Federation. It was a natural transition
given her young age when she retired, she
recalls. "And athletes are good role
models for youth. Once they do something,
the youth will follow," she adds.
And like the Pied Piper
she has become for youth in China, Ms. Deng
now hopes they will follow her to protect
the environment. "We try to educate
youth to do things like to save water and
turn off the lights but definitely we can
do more to raise awareness about the environment,"
she says. "We have to make them become
the heroes of the Planet."
Ms. Deng pointed out
that the Beijing Olympics was a leading
factor in bringing environmental awareness
to the country on a massive scale. According
to the 2009 UNEP Report, Beijing 2008 Olympic
Games - Final Environmental Assessment,
from reducing air pollution to big investments
in public transport and renewable energies,
the organizers made major efforts to ensure
that the 2008 Games marked a step forward
in terms of an eco-friendly mass spectator
sporting event.
By the time the preparations
were completed, Beijing had kilometers of
new railway and metro lines for a cleaner
public transport system, some 4,000 new
buses were on the roads powered by natural
gas, 30 million trees and bushes were planted,
some 90 percent of the city's wastewater
was treated and some 200 factories had switched
to cleaner kinds of production. "Because
of the Beijing Olympics, not only adults
but also youth had an enhanced understanding
of the environment," says Ms. Deng.
Ms. Deng, who was a
leading organizer of the 1.7 million youth
volunteers working at the Beijing Olympics,
congratulated UNEP on its reports before
and after the 2008 Games. UNEP has become
increasingly active as an environmental
advisor for the greening of mass events
worldwide, including every Olympics since
the Games in Greece in 2004.
Last year, UNEP also
released its assessment of Shanghai's efforts
to organize an environmentally-friendly
Expo 2010 that aims to benefit not only
the 70 million expected visitors but also
leave a green legacy for the city's over
20 million residents. The report outlined
Shanghai's efforts in nine key areas: air
quality, transport, energy, solid waste,
water, green coverage, protected areas,
climate neutrality and the overall situation
of the Expo Site.
