By Ian Ransom
BEIJING (Reuters) - For 16-year-old Li Miaomiao, sore feetfrom wearing high heels for hours at a time and an achy jawfrom constant smiling are worth the chance of hanging a medalaround an athlete's neck come the Beijing Olympics.
The willow-thin high school student is one of 34 Chinesegirls "training" to be an Olympic medal presenter at theBeijing Foreign Affairs School (BFAS), one of several state-runcolleges charged with producing camera-friendly girls forawards ceremonies.
When not balancing books on her head to improve postureduring medal presentation rehearsal sessions, Li and herclass-mates study English, cultural training and look atpictures of past medal presenters and their uniforms.
Most important for Li, though, is the smile.
"I practice at home, and smile to the mirror for an hourevery day," Li said, beaming radiantly in a red waistcoat andhigh heels on the sidelines of a class.
"I want to present my smile to the world, and let them knowthat the Chinese smile is the warmest."
Beijing has earmarked about $40 billion (20 billion pounds)to put on its best face for the Games, with Olympic venuesaccounting for only a small percentage.
Along with big-ticket items like subways and roads, Beijinghas spent billions more on a beautification campaign that hasseen whole neighbourhoods razed and thousands of residentsdisplaced.
But despite the completion of all Olympic venues monthsahead of schedule, Beijingers' manners remain a concern forofficials.
Fearing rougher local habits like spitting could offendforeigners, Beijing launched a massive public relationscampaign last year, and has posted thousands of "civilisation"volunteers at bus stops and subway stations to teach people toqueue.
"Building the software for the Olympics is much harder thanbuilding the hardware," said BFAS director Li Zhiqi.
"Personal qualities and mentality are firmly ingrained andtherefore hard to change."
CUT-THROAT COMPETITION
Li says her school, which also produced staff to wait onInternational Olympic Committee officials at their hotel, isdoing its bit to mould well-mannered, natural communicators todeal with foreign guests.
"This is a huge opportunity for them. The Olympics will putthem in front of the world's audience and lead to a lifetime offortune," Li said.
That is, if they make the grade.
Not unlike the more than 800,000 Chinese who have appliedfor only 100,000 Olympic volunteer positions on offer, thecompetition to become one of the coveted 380-odd medalpresenters was cut-throat.
The 34 hopefuls at BFAS were up against specialist danceschools, universities and possibly winners of regional contestsacross the country, Li said.
Applicants also faced biological constraints.
"Girls must be at least 1.63 metres tall ... There are noreal weight restrictions but they mustn't be too heavy," Lisaid, citing selection criteria from the Cultural ActivitiesDepartment of Beijing's Organising Committee for the Games.
While Zhao Dongming, the department's director, said theguidelines were so applicants could "fit into the uniformsbeing provided", rights groups have cried discrimination.
"In planning the Olympics, officials at the highest levelsof government should publicly condemn discrimination ratherthan reinforce harmful stereotypes and unfair hiringpractices," Brad Adams, Asia Executive Director of Human RightsWatch, said in a statement.
THE PERFECT SMILE
Further exacting standards were demanded from BFAS'sstudents, some of whom attended an intensive summer trainingcamp in Beijing's northern outskirts, sleeping in dormitoriesand rising early to take classes in etiquette and deportment.
Apart from common-sense communication tips, such as lookingdirectly at someone while talking to them, students are alsoinformed the perfect smile consists of "only showing the eighttop teeth," according to 17-year-old student Li Bogeng, whohoped to mix cocktails for IOC officials.
For Li Miaomiao, who stands at 1.73 metres and unblinkinglyrattles off her vital statistics when asked, the perfect smilecomes naturally -- after having practised for hours in themirror.
It doubtless helped Li become one of only seven girlschosen from dozens of applicants to present medals to winningboxers at an Olympic test event in Beijing last November.
"I have an air of elegance now, and my bearing has changedthrough this training programme," she said.
Li was still too young and therefore ineligible forbecoming an Olympic presenter, where guidelines call for 18-25year-old university students. But she rated herself acontender, anyway.
"I'm very confident. I think I have an 80 percent chance,"she said, flashing a winning smile.
(Editing by Jerry Norton)
(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road toBeijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics;and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china )