Village athletes can't get enough of Peking duck Paggie Leung in Beijing Updated on Aug 16, 2008 Athletes may be on special diets during the Olympic Games but many have not been able to resist Beijing's famous Peking duck.So much so that the Olympic Village has had to double its daily supply to meet demand. "Peking duck is a very popular dish among foreign athletes," Olympic Village deputy director and four-time Olympic table tennis champion, Deng Yaping , said yesterday. "We have increased the supply of Peking ducks from 300 to 600 a day." Mainland media had reported that supplies of the dish were usually sold out before 8pm at the village when only 300 ducks were available daily. Ms Deng said that as of Thursday, the village's main restaurant had served a record 273,627 meals. She said that from 10am to 7pm on the Games' opening day, the main restaurant catered to 18,634 diners, close to double the 9,876 served on the opening day of the Sydney Games in 2000 and topping the 10,515 on the same day in Athens in 2004. Caterers had trucked in 960 tonnes of food to the village so far. She said the athletes were not only satisfied with the quality of the food provided, but also enjoyed the service and their stay. "We have so far received 49 letters of appreciation from different delegations and the thick guest book is filled with comments and best wishes from them," Ms Deng said. "We have received no complaints about our service or our village and this has never happened in previous Games. Even though it is not over yet, it's a good sign." She said the village also made Olympic history by having visits from a record 62 state leaders and senior officials as of Thursday, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
