1.     The Beijing National Stadium also known as the “Birds Nest” was built explicitly for the 2008 Olympics. The Opening and closing ceremonies were held in the stadium, which has the capacity to house an audience 91,000. Herzog & de Meuron; a Swiss architecture firm came up with the design for this $423 million dollar stadium.

2.     The Beijing National Aquatic Center most commonly referred to as the “Water Cube” was used for all of the swimming, diving and other water sports events of the Beijing Olympics. This magnificent structure was conceived by one Australian firm, and two Chinese firms working diligently together and it cost them 940 million Yuan to bring this concept to life.

3.     The Ling Long Pagoda was the center for international broadcasting for the Olympic games. It stands 128 meters tall and has seven floors that France, Great Britain, The United States, and several other nations used to relay major news back to their citizens during the games.

4.     The Olympic Village that is used to house all of the athletes during their time at the games consists of a total of 42 buildings, 20 of these buildings are 9 stories tall and the remaining 22 buildings are 6 stories tall.

5.     Okay here is a fun fact that is only related to the Beijing Olympic Park just enough that I can get away with using it. The number 8 is associated with prosperity in Chinese culture, and the opening ceremony was held on August 8^th, 2008 at 8:00PM. So is this a coincidence or just the Chinese being superstitious; that I do not know.

6.     There were five mascots for the Beijing Olympics Beibei the Fish, Jingjing the Panda, Huanhaun the Olympic Flame, Yingying the Tibetan Antelope, and Nini the Swallow. They were designed to represent different elements of nature as     well as the five Olympic rings.

    7.     The Water Cube underwent a $20 million renovation after the Olympics and was turned into a rather extravagant water park. It looks as if someone took the water park from six flags ran the lazy river from water country through it and added some transparent coloring to it.

8.     The kayaking course, rowing course, and beach volleyball courts have all been left just sitting in the elements unused and slowly deteriorating. Often buildings and stadiums built for the Olympics are repurposed or sold off after the games; however in Beijing many have just been left sitting there, and are not used very frequently. http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2012-07-27/then-and-now-the-ghost-of-beijings-olympic-glory

9.     China won the most gold medals I the 2008 Olympics, winning 51 in total followed by the United States with 36 and Russia with 23 gold medals. In total medals the United States finished first with 110 medals followed by China with 100 and Russia with73 medals.

10. China saw their hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympics as a way of saying hey look at us we are a developed country with a strong economy and it is very clear that they wanted to show off to the world a little bit. They spent nearly half a billion dollars on the Birds Nest a lone not to mention the Water Cube, various other large arenas and course as well as the cost of knocking down the old hutong villages and relocating their residents to essentially renovate the downtown area of Beijing entirely.