The 2007 World Rowing Junior Championships concluded successfully in Beijing on August 11. Zhang Qing, Secretary General of the event organizing committee, could now finally set his mind at rest. He said that in organizing this tournament, the biggest gains they had made was the experience acquired for the organizing work through coordination with over 30 groups from various sectors.

Three months prior to the event Zhang Qing, together with more than 30 working groups from different sectors, arrived at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park for pre-tournament preparations. Most of them did not know anything about rowing or how to organize a high-level competition. For this, the following three months were devoted to continuous learning and coordination efforts. The greatest pressure that Zhang Qing felt was how these groups without any previous experience could measure up to the requirements of an Olympic test event.

Now the 2007 World Rowing Junior Championships is over, and the work of the event organizers has won praises from many quarters. The International Rowing Federation (FISA) said that they would transmit a "very satisfied" message to the International Olympic Committee. Zhang Qing also heard that FISA officials were surprised to know that the organizers had no experience in organizing a rowing event but managed to do a good job within three months of preparation. Mike Tanner, Chairman of FISA Event Commission told Zhang Qing who is also FISA council member, "You have a very good team. You do not need re-staffing. They will do better next year." Gaining recognition from the FISA and various participating teams is definitely the highest reward the organizers can get and is much more valuable than self-appraisal.

Despite these praises Zhang Qing admitted: "Our teams are very dedicated, but not professional enough." In these 30-plus departments concerned, Zhang said, only the competition management team made up of professional sports administrators from the General Administration of Sport has the experience in managing the competition. For other sectors, it was simply their first experience with such a high-level sports event. For this, with the arrival of the foreign teams, a lot of unexpected problems occurred: Some unregistered foreign participants were about to enter the venue but there were no more tickets for them. So the organizers had to look for extra tickets for them; At the airport, it was often the case that staff workers from the organizing committee did not find the guests who were supposed to arrive on the day but picked up those who were not on their list. However, to the great relief of the organizers, no major problems popped up to hinder the smooth going of the tournament, thanks to the close cooperation of all sectors who worked tirelessly and without complaint,

"Through the tournament we have realized that much remains to be improved in our future preparation for the Olympic Games, particularly the awareness of serving the spectators." Some spectators did complain that they were not well informed about ticketing and transportation of the tournament as well as the security measures taken at the venue. Some of them came all the way to the park only to be told that ceretain items were not allowed inside the venue, or that they had to enter through another gate, etc. However, Zhang Qing added, as one of the objectives of the tournament was to spot the potential problems, so all these problems will be properly handled and solved before next year's Olympic Games proper.