Around the Web: Dalian's new sports complex, skateboarding in China and more badminton wins
Tuesday, 7th July 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Move over (empty) Bird's Nest. British architectural firm RMJM won a competition to design a 20,000-square-meter sports complex in Dalian, capital of China's Liaoning province, and renderings of the design look distinctive to say the least. The building, which resembles a giant piece of muscle tissue, is to feature a floor that's suspended off the ground and north-facing skylights. It will house a 50-meter pool, as well as areas for martial arts, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, fencing and gymnastics. It's not RMJM's first China project--it also designed buildings for the Beijing Olympics, including the fencing and shooting venues and the international media center. One of the company's designers, John Pauline, contributed to design of the Water Cube. The Dalian project was the first for RMJM's new studio, RMJM Sport, which also was recently awarded the contract to design six venues for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
China's skateboarding scene
A couple of months after the X Games came to Shanghai, this Global Post article by Jordan Calinoff takes a quick look at the growth of skateboarding's popularity in China.
More wins for Chinese badminton team
China continued to do what it does in badminton over the weekend, winning four out of five finals at the Philippine Open. That's good news for sportswear brand Li-Ning, which earlier this year replaced another Chinese company, 361, as the team's outfitter and major sponsor.
Dalian image: RMJM
Tags: badminton, Dalian, RMJM, skateboarding, sports venues, venues, X Games
BOCOG reports 1.16 million RMB profit
Wednesday, 24th June 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China made RMB 1.16 billion (US $170 million) in operating profit from the 2008 Olympic Games, a Chinese government auditor recently reported (full story from the Financial Times here).The Beijing Olympic committee reaped its revenues primarily from sponsorships and TV broadcast rights, according to the Financial Times. Its expenditures were on "transport, accommodation, medical services and temporary event infrastructure." The expenditure numbers do not include construction of the 93 new facilities required for the games. And the Financial Times points out that absent from the report are the amounts spent on improving air quality or improving the capital's infrastructure with new subways and roads.
Here are some other numbers from that report:
RMB 20.5 billion (USD $2.925 billion): Revenues as of March 15 for Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) RMB 800 million above budget.
RMB 19.34 billion (USD $2.829 billion): BOCOG expenditures
RMB 19.455 billion (USD $2.846 billion): Investment in 93 new sports venues
RMB 3.5 billion: Initial investment in Bird's Nest stadium
RMB 150 million: Annual maintenance cost for Bird's Nest
30,000: Maximum number of tickets that current operators of the Bird's Nest can sell daily for tours of the white elephant
Tags: Beijing Olympics, Bird's Nest, Olympics, sports venues