1. 14 | AV europe | october 2008
Best
ChinaThe Beijing Olympics offered up the definitive world
spectacle. AV’s Geny Caloisi journeyed to the East and
went behind the scenes to see how the show was created
T
he 29th Olympiad, held in China
for the first time, officially opened
at 8.08pm local time (1.08pm BST)
on the eighth day of the eighth
month of the year. For the Chinese,
the number eight is significant and
is associated with good fortune.
Over 16 days, more than 10,500 of the best inter-
national athletes competed for the 302 gold medals
up for grabs across 28 sports.
The opening of the Games was marked by a spec-
tacular fireworks display, dancing and music —
although it was not all was as authentic as it seemed:
the telegenic Chinese girl singing during the cer-
emony was miming the voice of a less attractive girl,
and some of the fireworks were pre-recorded.
In any case, both the opening and closing ceremo-
nies were a perfect example of a world-class show.
Lighting, sound and projection, together with LED
screens, located strategically around the stadiums,
played a key role in making the magic happen.
For the duration of the games the whole of Bei-
jing became the Olympic ground with stadiums
spread around the city. However, the main sites
were the National Stadium — or ‘Bird’s Nest’ — and
the National Aquatics Centre, aka the ‘Water Cube’.
Their positions within the city were laid out accord-
ing to traditional feng shui design and were built on
either side of the north-south axis road that runs in a
straight line for three miles through Beijing, centred
on the Forbidden City.
In Chinese mythology, the sun is represented by
a circle, and the moon by a square, reflected by the
shape of the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube oppo-
site. The red and the blue colours of each venue rein-
forced the sun and moon symbolism.
When lit at night, the Bird’s Nest’s red glow viewed
though the steel structure looked like a heart seen
through a rib cage, while the predominantly blue
Water Cube changed into pastel shades at night.
Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meu-
ron, the National Stadium, which is expected to last
100 years, has an outer skeleton of 42,000 tons of
steel with an inner layer of plastic, similar to the one
used at the Eden Project, which kept spectators out
of the wind and rain while filtering out harmful UV
rays. The athletes weren’t as lucky and had to get on
and weather the elements.
Qingdao, outside of Beijing, held the sailing com-
petition, Hong Kong was the location for the eques-
trian events, while football was played in Tianjin,
Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao.
China spent total of a £20 billion on venues and
infrastructure in the run up to the Games. Of this £250
million was the cost for the main stadiums. London
can count on just half that total (£9.3 billion) for 2012.
event report beijing olympics