Beijing Prepares for the Olympics Part 2
Pollution: The city's choking pollution and snarled traffic will be controlled during the 17-day Olympics when at least one-third of 3.3 million vehicles will be banned, and dust-spewing building sites and sooty factories are shuttered. Billions have already been spent moving industry out of town.
Venues:
Beijing is the site for 31 Olympic venues—12 new, 11 under renovation, and eight built as temporary structures. Most are located in four clusters in the north of the city.
Five more venues are located outside Beijing in mainland China—for soccer and sailing. Another venue, for equestrian events, is in Hong Kong.
The Olympic Village is located at the far northern end of the Olympic Green, a high-rise compound for 10,500 athletes.
The Olympic Green area, site of half the competition venues, is about 10 times larger than it was in Athens and four times what it was in Sydney.
The two centerpiece venues—buildings that will be talked about for years to come—are the Bird's Nest National Stadium, a gargantuan bowl that seats 91,000, and the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, a simple box design considered the Games' "cool" building, with a translucent, blue-toned outside skin that makes the structure look like a cube of foam or bubbles.
Venues:
Beijing is the site for 31 Olympic venues—12 new, 11 under renovation, and eight built as temporary structures. Most are located in four clusters in the north of the city.
Five more venues are located outside Beijing in mainland China—for soccer and sailing. Another venue, for equestrian events, is in Hong Kong.
The Olympic Village is located at the far northern end of the Olympic Green, a high-rise compound for 10,500 athletes.
The Olympic Green area, site of half the competition venues, is about 10 times larger than it was in Athens and four times what it was in Sydney.
The two centerpiece venues—buildings that will be talked about for years to come—are the Bird's Nest National Stadium, a gargantuan bowl that seats 91,000, and the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, a simple box design considered the Games' "cool" building, with a translucent, blue-toned outside skin that makes the structure look like a cube of foam or bubbles.
