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National Olympic Sports Centre

2008 Summer Olympics stubsFootball venues in BeijingMulti-purpose stadiums in ChinaOlympic football venuesOlympic modern pentathlon venues
People's Republic of China sports venue stubsSports venues in BeijingSummer Olympic venue stubsVenues of the 1990 Asian GamesVenues of the 2008 Summer OlympicsWorld Rugby Sevens Series venues
National Olympic Sports Center 20130829
National Olympic Sports Center 20130829

The National Olympic Sports Centre (Chinese: 国家奥林匹克体育中心; pinyin: Guójiā Àolínpǐkè Tǐyù Zhōngxīn) or Olympic Sports Center Stadium (simplified Chinese: 奥体中心体育场; traditional Chinese: 奧體中心體育場; pinyin: Àotǐ Zhōngxīn Tǐyùchǎng) is a multi-purpose stadium in Chaoyang District, Beijing, China. It is currently used mostly for soccer matches. It was constructed in 1986 for the 1990 Asian Games. The complex contains the main stadium, an indoor arena, a hockey field, and a natatorium. It was renovated to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, where it hosted soccer matches and the running and riding parts of the modern pentathlon events. For the riding discipline, the soccer field at the core of the venue has been turned into a high-standard temporary equestrian field. The renovation also added four pavilion-styled rotating rampways around the stadium. The stadium has a floor space of 34,975 m2 (376,470 sq ft), which exceeds the original building area of 20,000 m2 (220,000 sq ft). Its capacity has doubled after the renovation, from about 18,000 to 36,228.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article National Olympic Sports Centre (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

National Olympic Sports Centre
Aotizhong lu, Chaoyang District Yayuncun

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N 39.982222222222 ° E 116.39305555556 °
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奥体中心体育场

Aotizhong lu
100000 Chaoyang District, Yayuncun
Beijing, China
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National Olympic Sports Center 20130829
National Olympic Sports Center 20130829
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2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony

The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on Sunday night, 24 August 2008. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. The musical acts included Plácido Domingo and Song Zuying singing The Flame of Love (lyrics by writers Song Xiaoming and Yuan Yuan) Wei Wei and Sun Nan singing Beijing Beijing (wo ai Beijing). Leona Lewis, Jimmy Page (with David Beckham making an appearance), Elspeth Hanson as the violinist and Kwesi Edman as the cellist. Andy Lau, Emil Chau, Jackie Chan, Karen Mok, Kelly Chen, Joey Yung and Nicolas Tse. Wang Lee Hom, Stefanie Sun and Rain. Han Hong Klaus Badelt wrote the music for the closing ceremonies.The Ceremony also included the handover of the games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. There was also a performance organized by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG). While the opening ceremony was described as an artistic and serious introduction of China's ancient past, the closing ceremony was described by Western media as "much more lighthearted", "silly" and "fun" than the opening ceremony.By the end of the 16 days of NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics in the United States, it had also become the most-watched U.S. television event of all time, with over 211 million American viewers tuned into the Olympics on NBC according to the Nielsen Media Research; this is 2 million more than the 1996 Atlanta Games, the previous all-time record-holder.

2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on Friday, 8 August 2008, as the number 8 is considered to be auspicious. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. The artistic part of the ceremony comprised two parts titled "Brilliant Civilization" and "Glorious Era" respectively. The first part highlighted the Chinese civilization and the second part exhibited modern China and its dream of harmony between the people of the world. The stadium was full to its 91,000 capacity according to organizers.The ceremony was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who was the chief director and was assisted by Chinese choreographers Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya. The director of music for the ceremony was composer Chen Qigang. It was noted for its focus on ancient Chinese culture, and for its creativity, as well as being the first to use weather modification technology to prevent rainfall. The final ascent to the torch featured Olympic gymnast Li Ning, who appeared to run through air around the membrane of the stadium. Featuring 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce. The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and numerous international presses as spectacular and spellbinding, and by many accounts "the greatest ever in the history of Olympics". It drew rave reviews from media around the world, and was praised for its magnitude and ingenuity, attracting a huge worldwide TV audience. The opening ceremony can also be considered an important branding initiative for China. At four hours and nine minutes, this was one of the longest ceremonies, second to Sydney 2000.