TT: Today you're going to sign an agreement with the Taipei Olympic Committee, could you tell our readers about that?
Levine: We already are the lifetime partner of the Taipei Olympic Committee, we have all their athletes working out here all the time. We support them by free memberships and we let their trainers come in and I can guarantee you we're going to do better in this year's upcoming Asian Games than we did last year. You've got to have the best facilities to become the best athletes.
We're also sponsoring them to go to the Asian Games.
TT: How many athletes work out here?
Levine: Over 50. [The Olympic Training Center in Taiwan is in Kaohsiung, where many athletes spend their time training before major international events.]
TT: What does California Fitness get back from working with the Olympic Committee?
Levine: The partnership is that we are the official fitness center. If someone comes to us and they don't know who we are ... they ask how do I know you're going to be here long term, how do I know that you're sound.
Before an Olympic Committee is going to partner with us they do a complete check on us. So when we can get the logo, put their logo next to our logo, it says `We're here. We've been checked out by the government. They think we're great. They could have gone anywhere, but they chose us.' Well, if the government can go anywhere and they chose us, that says that we're solid.
TT: What else are you doing in Taiwan?
Levine: On a personal note and a business note, Taiwan has been great for us. The chairman of this committee, Mr. Wang, got the team here and introduced them.
And Mayor Ma [Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] -- I mean we have centers in 11 different countries and I've met many mayors and country leaders and I've never seen a mayor come out with such a policy as, `Hey, let's lose a hundred tonnes of fat -- did you see what he did, he made this a fitness year, and that's great, that's really great. Bring up the awareness of it, it's great for the spirit, the motivation, the environment and the economy.
Everything moves when people are in shape and having fun and the mayor's policies and programs [are just that] and I've never seen a more conscientious mayor than Mayor Ma. We're behind him on all of his projects that he's doing with weight loss and we're putting a fitness center in the City Hall for people to work out ... . We're not just a business, we love it here and we want to do something for the community.
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