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BEIJING: Beijing unveiled one of its Olympic stars
here on Monday, an architectural gem designed to stage the swimming
events at the Games in August.
The blue bubble-wrapped National
Aquatics Center, better known as the “Water Cube,” took four
years to build at a reported cost of $200 million, most of it paid
for by donations from overseas Chinese.
The squat box-like structure with
three pools below ground level is made up of a steel skeleton
sheathed in a Teflon-like plastic membrane that resembles bubbling
water and gives the venue its name.
It stands in contrast to the
other key Olympic venue close by—the National Stadium or
“Bird’s Nest,” a curved structure made up of interlocking
steel beams that is scheduled for opening in April or May.
“I am very moved and very
proud,” said Li Aiqing, president of Beijing’s state-owned Asset
Management Co., which owns the Water Cube, at a ceremony
inaugurating the venue.
“This was a very ambitious
project in terms of the construction technology, and a most
difficult construction challenge.”
The eco-friendly structure’s
translucent shell allows in natural sunlight, providing heat and
light and cutting energy use by up to 30 percent, according to the
Beijing Olympic organizing committee.
The 17,000-seat venue will host
swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo during the
August 8 to 24 Games and 42 gold medals will be awarded there.
It has a three-meter deep
competition pool, a warm-up pool and a diving pool.
From Thursday, it will stage the
six-day China Open, a swimming competition that will serve as a test
of the venue ahead of the Olympics.
Olympic organizers have built or
refurbished 37 venues, 31 of them in Beijing, which will stage the
28 sports during the Games.
More than half the Beijing
venues, including the Water Cube, are concentrated in one small area
in the north of the city known as the Olympic Green.
Four other cities will host the
football tournament, yachting will take place in the Yellow Sea port
city of Qingdao and Hong Kong is to stage the equestrian events.
--AFP
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