The Olympic Green () is an

Olympic Park An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics ...

in Chaoyang District,

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

constructed for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. Since then, the streets around the park have been used for an exhibition street race of the

FIA GT1 World Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand to ...

in 2011, after a race at

Goldenport Park Circuit Goldenport Park Circuit () is a permanent circuit in Jinzhan Township, Chaoyang District, Beijing, People's Republic of China, which is located north of Beijing. designed by Australian Michael McDonough. The circuit was opened in December 200 ...

in the vicinity. It again served as an Olympic Park when Beijing hosted the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

Venues

Beijing National Stadium

The

Beijing National Stadium The National Stadium (), also known as the Bird's Nest (), is an 80,000-capacity stadium in Beijing. The stadium was jointly designed by architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron from Basel-based architecture team Herzog & de Meuron, p ...

() or "Bird's Nest" () is the centerpiece of this project. It hosted the

opening Opening may refer to: * Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an * The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron * Backgammon opening * Chess opening * A title sequence or opening credits * , a term from contract bridge * , ...

and

closing Closing may refer to: Business and law * Closing (law), a closing argument, a summation * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction * Closing (sales), the process of making a sale * Closure (business), Closing a ...

ceremonies,

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

, and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

finals of the Games. The stadium has room for 91,000 spectators, but the capacity was reduced to 80,000 after the Olympics. It also served as the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the

Beijing National Aquatics Center

The

Beijing National Aquatics Center The National Aquatics Centre (), and colloquially known as the Water Cube () and the Ice Cube (), is an aquatics center at the Olympic Green in Beijing, China. The facility was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the ...

() or "Water Cube" () hosted the

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

and

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the ''Fédérati ...

events. It has a capacity of 6,000 (17,000 during the 2008 Olympics)and is located next to the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

. It will be the site of the curling competitions during the

Beijing National Indoor Stadium

The

Beijing National Indoor Stadium The National Indoor Stadium (official name) ()Official Beijing Olympics siteNational Indoor Stadium is an indoor stadium that is located in the Olympic Green in Beijing, China. The stadium has a capacity of 20,000 people, and was constructed ...

() or "the Fan" held the

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

and

trampolining Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic sport in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle position to more com ...

events. With a capacity of 19,000, it was the main indoor arena used during the Games.

Beijing National Speed Skating Oval

The

Beijing National Speed Skating Oval The National Speed Skating Oval (The Ice Ribbon) is a speed skating arena which is the only new venue built on Beijing's Olympic Green for the Winter Olympics. It hosts the speed skating competitions at the 2022 Winter Olympics. It was built on ...

is an arena that was built for the

Olympic Green Convention Center

The

Olympic Green Convention Center The China National Convention Center, previously known as the Olympic Green Convention Center () is a convention center located in the Olympic Green in Beijing. History It was designed by RMJM and was originally used for the 2008 Summer Olym ...

, also called the National Convention Center (), held

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

and, the shooting and fencing disciplines of the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

. It is also used as the

International Broadcast Center The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) is a temporary hub for broadcasters during major sport events. FIFA World Cup During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in Germany, the IBC in Munich was host to journalists from around 190 countries. The centre wa ...

and the Main Press Center (for conventions and exhibitions). The center covers an area of 270,000 square meters.

Olympic Green Hockey Field

The

Olympic Green Hockey Field The Olympic Green Hockey Field () was one of nine temporary venues used for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It hosted the field hockey competitions during the Olympics and the football-5-a-side and 7-a-side events during the 2008 Summer Paralympics. ...

hosted the

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

events. It covered an area of with 2 courts and could seat 17,000 spectators. It was deconstructed after the Games.

Olympic Green Archery Field

The

Olympic Green Archery Field The Olympic Green Archery Field () was one of nine temporary venues for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It hosted the archery events. The field occupied 9.22 hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square ...

hosted the

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

events. The field occupied and had a capacity of 5,000. It was dismantled after the Games.

Olympic Green Tennis Center

The

Olympic Green Tennis Center The National Tennis Center (), is a tennis center located in the Olympic Green. It opened on 1 October 2007. It hosted the tennis preliminaries and finals of singles and doubles for men and women at the Beijing 2008 Olympics as well as the Paral ...

() hosted the

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, ...

events. It has 16 courts (10 competition, 6 practice) and a capacity of 17,400. It opened on October 1, 2007.

Promenade

The park itself, outside of the venues constructed on the Olympic Green, hosted some of the athletic events at the 2008 Games. These included the racewalk events, where the loops occurred on the Olympic Green, and the portion of the marathons just outside the National Stadium.

Other parts

Olympic Village

The Summer Olympic Village housed all the participating athletes. The village is made up of 22 6-story buildings and 20 9-story buildings.

Digital Beijing Building

The

Digital Beijing Building The Digital Beijing Building () is located northwest of the intersection of Beichen West and Anxiang North roads, on Olympic Green, in the Chaoyang District, Beijing, Chaoyang District of Beijing, China. It is a block-shaped building erected t ...

served during the Games as the

data center A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunic ...

. It was the only building on the Green at the time of the Olympics that was not an event venue. Since then it has been converted into a museum of the Digital Olympics and exhibition space for digital technology companies. Chinese architect Pei Zhu designed the distinctive , 11-story building near the Aquatic Centre and Convention Center. At the time of the Games, it was the only major facility designed by a Chinese architect. It is meant to explore the relationship between digital forms and traditional Chinese aesthetics, meant to evoke a microchip from two of its

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

s and a

bar code A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, Machine-readable data, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly refe ...

from the other two.

Ling Long Pagoda

The Ling Long Pagoda or Linglong Tower (''Multifunctional Studio Tower'') (玲珑塔) houses a part of the International Broadcast Center (IBC). It is located near the 2008 Summer Olympics cauldron, on the northwest side of the Bird's Nest Stadium.Official Beijing 2008 site
Ma Guoli: High definition signals to enable superb Olympic broadcasting
, October 24, 2007

Beijing Olympic Tower

Olympic Park Observation Tower over trees, Beijing

Completed and opened in 2014, the Beijing Olympic Tower's five circular roofs are meant to evoke the Olympic rings; although it has also been described as "a huge nail". The design of the towers themselves were inspired by blades of grass. It is the sixth tallest observation tower in China and the 22nd highest in the world. Visitors can look out over the park and the entire city of Beijing from all five platforms, ranging from in height.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 40, 00, 10.91, N, 116, 23, 12.01, E, region:CN-11_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title 2008 Summer Olympics 2022 Winter Olympics Chaoyang District, Beijing Olympic Parks Venues of the 2008 Summer Olympics Venues of the 2022 Winter Olympics Parks in Beijing Sports venues in Beijing Sports complexes in China