Olympic Gold

Beijing Olympic StadiumIt was the quintessential symbol for the biggest event in sports and television history. Beijing National Stadium, known colloquially as the Bird's Nest, is an architectural milestone and a true work of art. Herzog & de Meuron won the bid for the design out of 13 finalists and it took 5 years and 17,000 workers to complete. This highly acclaimed Swiss architecture firm have designed some of the most widely regarded buildings today. The Tate Modern in London, Dominus Wineray in Napa Valley, California, and 40 Bond in New York have all been commissioned by Herzog and de Meuron.

NYU sponsored a free all-inclusive weekend trip to Beijing for students studying abroad in Shanghai. We visited the Great Wall the first day and were free to do any additional exploring the other two days. My two friends and I decided that visiting the Olympic Green was a necessity while we were in Beijing. Stepping out of the cab and looking at the Bird's Nest was awe inspiring. The scale of the buildings in the Olympic Green cannot be captured on film, with the Bird's Nest being the centerpiece. Beijing's Olympic Green, consisting of the Bird's Nest, the famous Water Cube, and numerous other buildings, is at a fraction of last summer's grandeur but still had hundreds of thousands of people lining up to see the architecture.

We purchased our tickets and waited in line, the first thing any of us wanted to do was lay down on the faux grass, look up at the blue sky, and and take in the moment. We then ran a short race, took photos in the stands, and paid 100 RMB to have our photos taken on Olympic podiums wearing Olympic gold medals. After the obligatory tourist activities we ventured away from the crowd and entered an unmarked tunnel. We found ourselves wandering through athlete warm-up stations, stadium control rooms, and a doping clearance station. It was surreal thinking just a number of months ago the world's greatest athletes, along with 12,000 opening ceremony performers, were walking where I was walking. After walking in sectioned off areas for a bit more a wandering security guard stopped us and began questioning us. We played the tourist trick and responded in English with confused looks on our faces. He called us “lao wai” (foreigners) and escorted us back to the main field.

Visiting Beijing National Stadium was a contrast to the Great Wall. My trip to Beijing really showed me two opposite ends of a spectrum.