Thirty of us with the Tsinghua University honor guard squad were called up by BOCOG last June to become flag raisers for the Olympics. So far we have already taken part in 97 events. People may think we are professionals, but preparing for the Beijing Games is not easy.

If any of you happen to see us inside the venue, you will most likely find us studying our textbooks, because we cannot throw away coursework even during the test events. I still remember the tough days during the Ninth World Wushu Championships last November. We left school at 5 am and returned after midnight. It was quite a challenge for most of us.

We usually train on weekends. Trainers from the Olympic organizing committee teach us everything, including how to stand upright, how we should swing our arms, and the pace at which we should move.

Things are pretty strict, but that's not the half of it. We also need to keep a serious but not too solemn expression on our faces. Other training includes identifying all the different country's national flags.

The flag-raising ceremony at the Olympics is very different from what we have experienced in the past. First, we need to raise three or four national flags at the same time, and we should never mistake the order of the flags or put them the wrong way round, because many flags are not as symmetrical as they first appear. This is why we spend so much time memorizing them.

Another difficult part of our training is practicing standing upright, as we will be standing inside the venues for at least half an hour before the medal awarding ceremonies. This can be a little tough on the legs.

We have been to several Olympic test events and gained experience from each of them. As Olympic flag-raisers, our job is to show how modern China is while we adopt a "zero tolerance" policy regarding any foul-ups.

Huang Yi is a 23-year-old senior student studying Material Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University. He is 1.86m tall and is a member of the school's honor guard squad. He was selected last summer to serve as a flag raiser for the Beijing Games this summer.

(China Daily 05/16/2008 page5)