I had my first opportunity to enter the Bird’s Nest this morning, and, in spite of all the hype and hyperbole, it didn’t disappoint.
I had been up close to the stunning steel mesh structure on a number of occasions, but emerging onto the main concourse, the view from the entrance looking directly onto the action in the sunken bowl below, it was impossible not to be impressed by the sheer beauty of the venue.
It helped that it was a brilliantly clear, sunny morning, with the Olympic flame burning against the backdrop of a deep blue sky overhead and the sweeping curves of the roof framing the action on the track and in the field down below.
The crowd around us were mainly Chinese, and there was a real family atmosphere - grandparents stuffing their grandchildren’s faces with food, couples waving flags and everyone cheering on the sole Chinese athlete on view - Song Dan, a 19-year-old no-hoper in the javelin. Needless to say, nobody was surprised when she failed to qualify. Two women sitting next to me spent the whole time talking about how fat the javelin competitors were. “She looks like she sits on the sofa and eats all day,” one said as she herself fished a yoghurt out of her bag. But they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
And, this being China, everybody - and I mean everybody - was posing for photograph after photograph, capturing images of their big Olympics day out.
There were international fans in the stadium - a few Union Jacks fluttered and a loud contingent of Americans cheered on their athletes in the 200 metres heats. But this was very much a Chinese occasion - the lack of high-profile events this morning meant tickets were both cheaper and easier to get hold of than those for the medal events in the evening, when fans from overseas make up a much larger proportion of the crowd.
The Chinese authorities carried out a high-profile crackdown on ticket touts yesterday, but it appeared not to have deterred the dozens of scalpers lined up outside the subway station.
Tickets for this morning’s session were changing hands for hundreds of dollars, with most transactions taking place in full view of police and security officials. Clearly the rows and rows of empty seats at venues in week one appear to have persuaded the authorities to turn a semi-blind eye to touting - they would rather have full stadia than expend time and energy clamping down on illegal profiteering.
I have been lucky enough to attend finals and semi-final events at many of the UK’s most high-profile stadia - the Millennium Stadium, Old Trafford, the Emirates and the new Wembley. None of them are a patch on the Bird’s Nest.
A stadium on this scale would be too expensive to construct in the UK - it cost £228 million to build; compare that with the almost £1 billion cost of the new Wembley. Thousands of migrant builders worked on the project round the clock for four years, again something that would be hard to replicate elsewhere, and its majesty will be of little consolation to the families of the builders killed during the construction process - the Chinese authorities admitted under pressure that two workers died; media reports had suggested that at least 10 were killed during the four-year building process, a figure rejected by China.
But as a venue for the climax to the world’s most high profile sporting competition, it will be hard to top - the blueprints for London’s Olympic centrepiece in Stratford look distinctly underwhelming by comparison.
I will be back in the Bird’s Nest on Friday night to watch the men’s and women’s 4×100 metre relays. I’m counting down the hours already.
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