The contestants are super-fit, train hard every day and have a carefully honed physique that is vital to their chances of success. In pictures: The beauty bootcamp
Their determination to succeed is not just for themselves, they say, but for the honour of China.
And these are just the young women who want to be chosen to carry the medals to the prize-giving ceremonies at this summer’s Beijing Olympics.
Yesterday, some of these young hopefuls – all training at the Changping vocational high school to the north of the capital – were introduced to the press.
The determination of the authorities to ensure perfection in every detail of the Games on which they have staked their own and the nation’s reputation was on very obvious display.
Girls bidding to become “Olympic hostesses†are carefully selected, according to official from the Beijing Olympic Games Organising Committee.
They are all roughly the same height – five foot six to five foot seven and a half.
They are all good-looking, and they all have “good physiqueâ€, a point picked on by delighted Chinese newspapers who are reporting that big bottoms had been banned.
They have a maximum weight – eight stone nine pounds – and the ratio of their upper to lower bodies must be 11:13.
They are also drilled with military precision.
The 32 chosen to parade in the high school gymnasium yesterday, all aged 16-19, marched in step, sometimes carrying trays with practice bottles of water, sometimes making in unison elaborate hand gestures intended to direct imaginary spectators to their seat.
Seeing all the ladies in their identical clothing and hairstyles reminded me of Robert Palmer’s Simple Irresistable video from the ’80s…