OpinionTen years on from Beijing 2008 what is the Chinese capital’s Olympic legacy ahead of hosting Winter Games in 2022?
Stadiums have seen varied success over the last decade, but city will become first to host summer and winter games
“Crumbling” has been the word of choice to describe Beijing’s Olympic legacy a decade on from the start of the 2008 Summer Games, which passed last week.
Indeed, time has not been kind to all of the venues that hosted events during that glorious summer, with photographs of the beach volleyball arena, kayaking course and BMX track highlighted as proof that the most expensive Summer Games ever – only Sochi 2014 cost more – should be consigned to failure.
The truth is that those particular venues were always on a hiding to nothing. With the greatest respect to BMX and kayaking, they were never going to take off as participation sports even with an Olympic track open to the public, and beach volleyball is going to suffer in a city where at least three months of the year are freezing.
As for the other venues, the most visible legacy of any Olympics, the Bird’s Nest might need a lick of paint but it remains a well-trafficked tourist destination, along with the rest of the Olympic Park, which also includes the Water Cube and the Tennis Centre that hosts the China Open.
The Bird’s Nest has also hosted a handful of football matches such as the Italian Super Cup and friendlies between English Premier League sides, and it would have been the first venue to stage a Manchester derby outside of England but for a pitch that fell apart in 2016.
More tellingly, it will be the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics, when Beijing becomes the first city to host both the summer and winter games.