New Zealand Olympic Games chef de mission Dave Currie is confident his team are safe in Beijing, despite the murder yesterday of a tourist related to a United States volleyball coach.
A knife-wielding Chinese man attacked two relatives of the coach at a tourist site in Beijing, killing one and seriously injuring the other, team officials said.
The man then committed suicide by throwing himself from the second story of the site, the 13th century Drum Tower, 5km from the main Olympic site. "For all intents, it appears to be a random attack by a deranged man," US International Olympic Committee member Jim Easton told The Associated Press.
"The only thing we've heard is they were not identifiable except for a small volleyball pin which would probably be invisible to a guy." Currie said he was aware of the fatal stabbing.
"Our team security advisor is in close and regular contact with New Zealand and Chinese government officials and we remain satisfied that the security risk to New Zealand Olympic team members is low," he said.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and will advise our athletes of any changes."
The New Zealand team were saddened by the news, and extended their sympathies to members of the US team.
