So says Raylene Bates, the manager of the Olympic athletics team, who spoke at the Skeggs Foundation luncheon yesterday.
Vili became world champion in the shot put at Osaka last year and is the hot favourite to win at Beijing, according to Bates.
The other athletes competing at the Olympic Games who are ranked in the top 16 are Beatrice Faumuina (discus), ranked 12th, Kimberley Smith (5000m and 10,000m, fifth), Nick Willis (1500m, 16th) and Nina Rillstone (marathon, 13th).
Bates said yesterday she could ‘‘taste the pollution'' when she arrived at Beijing for the world junior athletics championships two years ago.
New Zealand Olympic Games officials had thoroughly investigated the likely problems athletes would face, Bates said.
‘‘When I was at the world junior championships two years ago it was difficult to see across the other side of the stadium because of the pollution. It is much better now.''
Bates said New Zealand government agencies had done a lot of work to ensure the safety and well-being of New Zealand athletes.
When she visited Beijing two years ago the site of the village was just a pile of rubble.
‘‘It was like a war zone then. There were 16,000 people working on the project to complete it on time, she said.
‘‘It is different today. I have no fear that things will not happen the way the Chinese say.''
The athletes' village consists of 22 six-storey buildings and 29 nine-storey buildings. The New Zealand team of 315 people will be housed in one nine-storey tower block.
‘‘The only defect is that the bedrooms are a bit small. But we will just have to sort that out,'' Bates said.
