Posted by
Darko Trifunovic on Friday, April 25, 2008 2:23:27 PM
The final Olympics venue is ready
Posted by Tim Johnson
Thu Apr 17, 11:50 PM ET
Journalists were allowed into the just completed “Bird’s Nest” National
Stadium, and here are some photos to show what it looks like.
This is the landmark venue for the Summer Games, a $450 million beauty.
The opening and closing ceremonies will occur here, and such events as
the marathon will terminate here.
It is a striking facility, especially from a distance. The interlaced
beams look randomly but stably intertwined. Once inside, the color red
predominates. It is not a covered stadium. But if one looks overhead,
multiple cables crisscross the open-air roof. Clearly, the designers
plan for some acrobatic displays.
In the center of the playing field, there are four huge platforms on
hydraulic lifts, just as in a large theater. So the opening ceremony
will clearly include scenes of performers rising from underground into
the air.
On another note, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Beijing had a session yesterday with Stefano Baldini,
the reigning Olympic gold medalist marathoner from the 2004 Athens
Games. Baldini had some interesting things to say. For one, he thinks
the smog will be less of a factor in the upcoming Games then heat and
humidity, at least for his event.
“The hotter it is and the more humid it is, the more the gap shrinks
with the strongest runners,” he said, meaning that the race may be wide
open.
Air quality has not been good this week, and Baldini remarked on it.
“I haven’t seen such a polluted sky anywhere else,” he said. “I think it’s very psychological because you see it. You sense it.”
But he said air quality is likely to get better by summer time.
He also snorted at the idea of wearing a mask when coming to Beijing,
breaking into English from his native Italian. Some teams, including
the U.S. squad, will be providing masks to athletes.
“No mask,” he said. “I don’t see any advantage in wearing a mask, neither for everyday use nor for training.”
