Games-time official website goes live

The Games-time version of the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

(BEIJING, July 15) -- The Games-time version of the official website of the Beijing Olympic Games went live on July 15, 2008, giving shape to the information release platform for the Games and marking the official website's entry into Games-time status.

Releasing information in five languages -- Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Arabic -- the official website serves as a major channel for netizens worldwide to obtain information on the competitions of the Beijing Olympics and an important window for countries and people around the world to understand Beijing and China.

The website will issue immediate official information on the Beijing Olympics from authoritative sources and offer live coverage of all press conferences held by BOCOG and important press conferences by the IOC and national and regional Olympic committees through photos and transcripts.

In terms of Olympic competition coverage, the website will immediately publish detailed Olympic competition schedules, real-time competition progress for all sports, results, technical statistics and medal standings, in addition to detailed previews and post-competition analyses, flash reports, post-competition interviews, daily roundups and athlete features, with references to file and background information for all participating athletes, as soon as relevant data and information becomes available.

The website will offer full coverage of the highly anticipated Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and selected coverage of Olympic cultural activities, updates on co-host cities, events outside the venues, volunteers, venue operations and sponsorship activities. The "Olympic Spirit" page will follow the progress of the Olympic Cultural Festival, Olympic Youth Camp and Olympic Education Program with an aim at enhancing awareness among youth,enabling them to learn more about and participate in the Olympic Games.

To support BOCOG's services for spectators and media members, the website will provide comprehensive information on ticketing, guidelines for spectators, guides to the host city, venues and facilities, accessible services, transport, hotels, entertainment, Olympic licensed products. An advanced E-map will link netizens to any destination they seek.

Before and after the Olympic competitions, the website will hold online interviews with guests that include social celebrities, sports stars, Olympic officials, representatives of sponsors and ordinary volunteers, to allow netizens to see and understand all aspects of the Games.

Chinese Olympic victory uniforms unveiled

The suits for Chinese medalists at the Beijing Olympics were unveiled on July 15, 2008.

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(BEIJING, July 15) -- Chinese medalists at the 2008 Olympic Games will wear tailored uniforms featuring the colors red and yellow and a "lucky cloud" pattern, according to Xinhua.

Red and yellow are the dominant colors of the Chinese national flag.

Designed by the Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology and made by Worldwide Olympic Partner Adidas, the suits were selected from more than 2,000 entries in an international design contest over a year's time.

Models showcase the suits.

Ma Jilong, director of the sports equipment center under the General Administration of Sport of China, lauded the uniforms for their elegance and aesthetic quality.

Adidas has tailored the uniforms for every competing Chinese athlete, manufacturing an unprecedented 17 sizes for heights ranging from 1.40m to 2.26m. The suits are handmade.

The suits for Chinese medalists at the Beijing Olympics were unveiled on July 15, 2008.

It was reported that every athlete will be given two suits, one for the victory ceremony and the other for their personal collection.

Olympic diving champion Gao Min gave a thumbs-up to the outfits, saying they feature the auspicious atmosphere of the Olympic Games and reflect the spirit of Chinese athletes.

Water Cube

National Swimming Center--Exquisite and Exciting "Water Cube"

In Chinese culture, water is an important natural element. It creates a calming atmosphere and inspires happiness. Taking full consideration of the functions of water in recreation and bodybuilding, designers have explored many ways for people of different age groups to appreciate its function. The design is called "Water Cube". Many creative designs have been employed in the creation of the swimming pools at the swimming center. Other high-tech facilities including optical devices used to define positions of athletes, and multiple-angle, three-dimensional screening systems are provided to help spectators enjoy competitions.

A semi-transparent "cube", with "bubbles" spread out all over its surface, is a shape very similar to the structure of "H2O", the outlook for the National Swimming Center at the 2008 Olympic Games. After the games, it will become a recreational water park open to the public.

The National Swimming Center, one of the three landmark buildings for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, is located inside the Beijing Olympic Park. Covering a total floor space of 50,000 square meters, it has 17,000 seats. The project costs about US$100 million. The center will be a venue for swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water-polo games during the period of the Olympic Games. After the games, the center will become a large water recreational center open to the public.

In January 2003, Beijing started to solicit design schemes for the National Swimming Center. The international competition settled on "Water Cube" as the winning scheme. It is designed by the design consortium consisting of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, China State Construction International (Shenzhen) Design Co Ltd, PTW Architects (Australia) and Ove Arup (Australia).

The National Swimming Center will be the only landmark Olympic venue that is constructed by donations from compatriots from Overseas.

Bird's Nest

Beijing National Stadium (Bird's Nest/Olympic Stadium)

The Beijing National Stadium, also known as the bird's nest will be the main track and field stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics and will be host to the Opening and Closing ceremonies. In 2002 Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron collaborated with ArupSport and China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition. The stadium will seat as many as 100,000 spectators during the Olympics, but this will be reduced to 80,000 after the games. It has replaced the original intended venue of the Guangdong Olympic Stadium. The stadium is 330 metres long by 220 metres wide, and is 69.2 metres tall. The 250,000 square metre (gross floor area) stadium is to be built with 36 km of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. The stadium will cost up to 3.5 billion yuan (422,873,850 USD/ 325,395,593 EUR). The ground was broken in December 2003, and construction started in March 2004, but was halted by the high construction cost in August 2004.

In the new design, the roof of the stadium had been omitted from the design. Experts say that this will make the stadium safer, whilst reducing construction costs. The construction of the Olympic buildings will continue once again in the beginning of 2005.

In depth The stadium's appearance is one of synergy, with no distinction made between the facade and the superstructure. The structural elements mutually support each other and converge into a grid-like formation - almost like a bird's nest with its interwoven twigs. The spatial effect of the stadium is novel and radical, yet simple and of an almost archaic immediacy, thus creating a unique historical landmark for the Olympics of 2008.

The stadium was conceived as a large collective vessel, which makes a distinctive and unmistakable impression both from a distance and when seen from up close. It meets all the functional and technical requirements of an Olympic National Stadium, but without communicating the insistent sameness of technocratic architecture dominated by large spans and digital screens.

Visitors walk through this formation and enter the spacious ambulatory that runs full circle around the stands. From there, one can survey the circulation of the entire area including the stairs that access the three tiers of the stands. Functioning like an arcade or a concourse, the lobby is a covered urban space with restaurants and stores that invite visitors to stroll around. Just as birds stuff the spaces between the woven twigs of their nests with a soft filler, the spaces in the structure of the stadium will be filled with inflated ETFE cushions. Originally, on the roof, the cushions were to be mounted on the outside of the structure to make the roof completely weatherproof, but the roof has been omitted from the design in 2004.

While the rain was to be collected for rainwater recuperation, the sunlight was to filter through the translucent roof, providing the lawn with essential ultraviolet radiation. On the facade, the inflated cushions will be mounted on the inside of the structure where necessary, e.g. to provide wind protection. Since all of the facilities -- restaurants, suites, shops and restrooms -- are all self-contained units, it is possible to do largely without a solid, enclosed facade. This allows for natural ventilation of the stadium, which is the most important aspect of the stadium's sustainable design.

The sliding roof was an integral part of the stadium structure. When it was to be closed, it would have converted the stadium into a covered arena; however, the sliding roof was eliminated in an effort to cut costs and increase overall safety of the radical new structure.