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Beijing 2008 Olympics 到北京看奧運 (Aug 2008)
chin:
Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, or the Wu Ke Song (Five Pine Tree) Gymnasium.
After coming out of the subway station, we had to walk a few hundred meters of urban streets to the venue.
And along the way we got to see the "finest" of the Socialism with Chinese Characteristics - ticket scalpers offering all kinds of Olympics tickets, sellers of stickers & flags, and even guys offering us a umbrella for a used ticket.
In the later sections, I will have a bit more of my observations and speculations about the ticketing arrangement.
Once we passed the security check and got inside the Wu Ke Song compound, the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed.
Time to get more tasteless food for dinner.
chin:
The 1st picture is the court before the match.
As in any Olympics event, a large portion of the venue is reserved for media with monitor and other hi-tech gears. Since this was only the 1/4 final, not much media attention here.
chin:
The matches were US vs S. Korea, then Russia vs Spain. With my not-so-professional gear, I was not able to take too many good action pictures.
There were a few groups of very loud Russian fans yelling and waving flags.
In the background of the last picture is the ring of corporate boxes. I wonder what it takes to have a box here...
The audience, predominately mainland Chinese, mainly cheered for S. Korea and Russia. Should not be a surprise to anyone.
But if it were men's basketball match, I suspect many would cheer for the NBA stars from US. See the next set of picture.
chin:
First I noticed an entire section was blocked-off, with staff sitting at the entrance to the row of seats.
Then they all standing up during the intervals, while young guys eagerly taking picture between the shoulders.
The focus of their attention was the guys sitting there. Must be the NBA stars.
The NBA must have been a very successful American cultural export.
I remember perhaps 10 years ago, clothing and sports stores in Hong Kong were suddenly awashed with NBA merchandise. I was wondering why the youth in HK, who are generally not very sporty, would be fascinated about NBA.
In the mainland China, the popularity of NBA is a lot more understandable - I was told that basketball is a popular activity for young people, and Yao Ming's has been an iconic figure.
chin:
Whoever they were, must be popular figures. I saw people waved to them and and take picture of them.
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