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Water Cube

Buildings and structures in Chaoyang District, BeijingContemporary Chinese architectureHigh-tech architectureOlympic curling venuesOlympic diving venues
Olympic swimming venuesOlympic synchronized swimming venuesSports venues completed in 2008Sports venues in BeijingSwimming venues in ChinaUse mdy dates from March 2012Venues of the 2008 Summer OlympicsVenues of the 2022 Winter OlympicsWater parks
国家游泳中心夜景
国家游泳中心夜景

The Water Cube (水立方), fully known as the National Aquatics Centre (国家游泳中心), is a swimming center at the Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The Water Cube was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. During the 2008 Olympics—where it hosted diving, swimming and synchronized swimming events—25 world records were broken in this facility. In July 2010, a renovation of the facility was completed, which included the addition of a 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft) public water park. After renovation and adaptive configuration, the Water Cube also hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Water Cube (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Water Cube
TianChen East Road, Chaoyang District

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N 39.991666666667 ° E 116.38416666667 °
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国家游泳中心 (水立方)

TianChen East Road 11
100000 Chaoyang District
Beijing, China
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国家游泳中心夜景
国家游泳中心夜景
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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
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