Venue maps and the last round of Olympic tickets
Today ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
A list of ticket booths is below. The BBC's Olympic venue map is a great place to start if you don't know the location of an Olympic site. For a map that's less geographically detailed but includes the venues' Mandarin names, check out ChinesePod's Olympics site, where you can also pick up some last-minute Olympic-themed language lessons.
Get there early, and bring your passport and your sense of humor—the lines are bound to be long. Cash and Visa cards are the only two forms of payment that will be accepted. The box offices close at 6 p.m., but it's a safe bet that tickets will be sold out long before then.
Beijing's main ticket outlet is on the north side of Beitucheng Road, on the west side of the public transportation parking space. Subway lines 8 and 10 meet at Beitucheng. This booth will sell tickets for events hosted at the following venues:
National Stadium (Bird's Nest)
National Aquatics Center (Water Cube)
National Indoor Stadium
Fencing Hall of National Convention Center
Beijing Wukesong Sports Center Baseball Field
Box offices at football (soccer) preliminaries sites—Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao—will only sell tickets for events they are hosting.
According to BOCOG's ticketing site, the following venues will have booths selling tickets only for events that they are hosting:
Olympic Green North venue cluster
Olympic Sports Center venue cluster
Wukesong venue cluster
Laoshan Velodrome
Beijing Shooting Range CTF/Hall
Fengtai Sports Center Softball Field
Capital Indoor Stadium
Peking University Gymnasium
Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium
Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium
Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium
China Agricultural University Gymnasium
Triathlon Venue
Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground
Beijing Workers' Stadium
Beijing Workers' Gymnasium
Tags: Beijing, Chinesepod, Olympic ticketing, Olympics, venues
Flashback: China 2004 volleyball gold
Tuesday, 22nd July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
In the process of putting together China Sports Today's YouTube playlist, I stumbled across this video of a great sports moment: the fifth and final set of the 2004 women's volleyball gold medal match between China and Russia.For more China sports video, check out our YouTube playlist, which includes past competition, commercials and interviews with athletes in sports from archery to wushu.
Tags: video, volleyball, YouTube
Why is Anna Kournikova on the cover of SI China?
Tuesday, 22nd July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (2)
"寻找库娃 (Searching for Kournikova)"
Anna Kournikova is pretty, and so is SI China (体育画报). But the only thing harder than finding a media kiosk in Beijing that sells the magazine is finding Kournikova on a tennis court. With the Olympics countdown clocks all over the capital now inside of 20 days, is it really time for a "Where are they now?" story? The cover line reads: "Searching for Kournikova." Even in a country of 1.3 billion people, it's pretty safe to say that no one is.
Our simple theory: The intended cover boy or girl pulled out at the last minute. Someone at SI China suggested using its US sister magazine's Rafael Nadal shots for the cover. But the boss pointed out that SI China's runaway best-selling issue is the swimsuit issue, so the art department called the US office asking for the next best thing. Thus did an irrelevant athlete appear on newsstands amidst China's countdown to its most exciting sports moment.
The guy who we buy our magazines from in Beijing's Central Business District keeps it simple. Here's a translation of our conversation with him:
CST: What is she doing on the cover?
News guy: What sport does she play? Is she in the Olympics?
CST: She plays tennis. And she's not good.
News guy: She doesn't have to be good. She's pretty! Don't forget your Titan [sports newspaper].
Thank you, SI, for bringing to China the best in sports media.
Tags: Anna Kournikova, SI China, sports media, tennis
Liang makes British Open cut
Monday, 21st July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Playing in his third major, Liang finally made the cut at Royal Birkdale with an eight-over-par 148 over the first two rounds. Liang, currently number one on the Asian Tour, shot a 77 and a 74 on the last two rounds, ending with an overall score of 299, 19 over par. He finished in a three-way tie for 64th place.
"I'm happy overall. This is my first time at The Open and I made it through the weekend," Liang said, according to this report from the Omega China Tour. "A tournament like this is a great learning experience. You learn to be patient and I'll take this experience and apply it in future tournaments. I can become better."
Liang competed in last year's PGA Championship and this April's Masters, missing the cut both times. He is the first Chinese player at the Open Championship. This year, he will play in three US PGA Tour events, the Canadian Open, the Reno-Tahoe Open and the Wyndham Championship.
For more on Liang, see this recent Golf Digest feature: Golf in the Year of the Rat
Image: Omega China Tour
Tags: British Open, golf, Liang Wenchong, Omega China Tour, Open Championship
China beats Australia in soccer friendly
Monday, 21st July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Changchun—China beat Australia 1-0 in a pre-Olympic friendly on Sunday. Zhao Xuri scored on a pass from Yuan Weiwei in the 80th minute. It was China's first game without former head coach Ratomir Dujkovic, who was reassigned within the organization last week. According to Xinhua, Dujkovic was scouting Belgium, which is in China's Olympic draw, in a match against the Netherlands. Yin Tiesheng is now the team's head coach.Midfielder Zheng Zhi, one of China's best players who two weeks ago was rumored to be injured and missing the Olympics, did play in the match.
Tags: football, Ratomir Dujkovic, soccer, Zheng Zhi
China's Olympic soccer coach replaced
Saturday, 19th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Dujkovic, who is Serbian, has not been fired by the association, according to this Xinhua story, but moved to another job. No reason has been given for the change and Dujkovic has not made public comment.
This is the third elite-level coach the CFA has removed from a post in four months; it has now completely overhauled its head coaching lineup for both men's and women's teams. The CFA let national team men's coach Vladimir Petrovic (also Serbian) go last week after a failed World Cup qualifying run. In March, it fired women's coach, Elizabeth Loisel of France, by e-mail after political conflicts with team officials.
Related:
China Fires Men's National Soccer Coach
Au Revoir (Loisel fired)
Tags: Elizabeth Loisel, football, Olympics, Ratomir Dujkovic, soccer, Vladimir Petrovic
Robles ties Liu's former world record
Saturday, 19th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
If you live in China, you can be forgiven for believing that Liu Xiang (刘翔) is assured to win the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the Beijing Olympics. But Liu, whose name used to appear next to the words "world record holder" and "odds-on" favorite, is far from invincible. Cuba's Dayron Robles broke his record last month, running the race in 12.87 seconds in Ostrava, Czech Republic. And yesterday, Robles silenced any doubt that he is the real deal, clocking a 12.88 in an IAAF race in Paris. Americans Terrence Trammell and Antwon Hicks ran 13.19 and 13.27, respectively.Chinese friends of mine, often prone to excessive humility when it comes to their nation's athletes, are still completely bullish on Liu. He will win, they say, because Robles and the others are scared of him. But it's hard to see why the current world record holder should be afraid of Liu, whose fastest time this year is a 13.18 (at the Good Luck Beijing Athletics China Open in May) and who skipped his next race due to a hamstring injury and double faulted at the one after that. No doubt he knows Liu is a great athlete and competitor, but you don't break the world record and then show up to the Olympics shaking in your spikes.
Liu says his hamstring is still not totally healthy, but the 25-year-old is playing the age card on Robles, according to Reuters: "I feel like he is born to be a hurdler," Liu said of his 21-year-old rival. "He is terrific. But I still believe I am able to beat him. After all, he is younger than me."
On the evening of Thursday, August 21, at National Stadium in Beijing, we'll get to find out if Liu is right.
Related:
Liu Xiang drops out of NY race
Liu Xiang's record broken
Liu Xiang grounded again
Tags: athletics, Dayron Robles, Liu Xiang, track and field
CW's Olympic Guide
Friday, 18th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Check out the bar reviews and more at City Weekend's Beijing site.
Tags: City Weekend, Olympics, sports bars
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