From Deep Dives to... Curling Stones? Repurposing Olympic Venues

Even though Beijing's National Aquatics Center, i.e. the Water Cube, was primarily designed for Olympic divers and swimmers, the venue will play a very different role during the 2022 Winter Games: that of host to curling events.

It's the most creative of a handful of venue re-purposings planned for Beijing's second Olympic hosting, according to a recent article in Beijing Today. Along with the Aquatics Center – whose additions include a detachable ice rink – icy sporting competitions like women’s ice hockey will also be held at the LeSports Center (formally known as the Wukesong Stadium, which hosted very different sports like baseball during the 2008 Games).

Can you imagine THIS happening at the the water cube (水立方)?

Press and international broadcasting, meanwhile, will take place via the National Convention Center, just like in 2008, while the National Stadium (also know as the Bird's Nest) will hold the opening and closing ceremonies.

However, Beijing will by no means rely exclusively on longstanding structures for the 2022 Games. Among the new venues being built for those forthcoming Winter Olympics will be the National Speed Skating Hall. A significant amount of that new construction and renovating will also be devoted to downhill and cross-country skiing. And, just like the older sports centers used in 2008, those slopes are being built with the long game in mind: tourism and alpine lodging for casual skiers long after the 2022 closing ceremonies.

Gui Lin, who is heading up the Department of Planning and Sustainable Development with the Winter Olympic Committee, told Beijing Today that at least 90 venues from Beijing previous Olympics remain in "good condition." He added that 80 percent of those stadiums and other haunts have held sporting events, exhibitions, and concerts since those summer Games wrapped eight years ago. What is unclear is whether the venues ever recouped their costs or are a necessary fixture in the city given the relatively low frequency of these events but the repurposing of them can only help towards the city's need for sustainability.

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