Britta Steffen might compete in the 50 free in Beijing

Britta Steffan WAS at the Water Cube this weekend and she did quite well. From Xinhua: "... Steffen, the world record holder in the women's 200-meter butterfly, clocked 24.93 seconds, [in the 50 free] edging her Brazilian rival Flavia Cazziola in 25.44 and her teammate Daniela Goetz in 25.51.

Steffen said she was satisfied with her performance, adding that she was considering to compete in the 50-meter race in the Olympics. ..." [Link]

She also swam in and won the 100m fly but she didn't set a world record; she swam a 54.73

"Water Cube" drinking water

Branding the Water Cube for product use: So far they have granted 40 licenses. From China Daily.com: "...With the venue, dubbed the Water Cube after its blue bubble-wrap appearance, available for use as of this week for the test events, Kang is now focusing on making the Water Cube a valuable brand.

"While planning and inviting the bid for the aquatics center, we took into consideration post-Games use," Kang said. "As early as three years ago we planned to register the Water Cube trademark and now we have launched mineral water from Canada in bottles and we will have more products with the trademark in the future. ..." [Link]

Four minute interview and slide show with the Beijing 'Water Cube' architect.

Jane McLean spoke with John Bilmon of PTW, the architects of this over-designed, form before function, aquatics center. Here is a link to the PTW site so you can see all of the 'horsey' stuff they build: [Link]

From CNN: The National Aquatics Centre, known as the "Water Cube," for the Beijing Olympics looks set to be ready in October 2007. ... he building's design and operation aims to live up to China's promise to be the most environmentally friendly Games ever. ..." [Link]

Greenest games ever? I don't think so. The IOC is all ready having issues with air quality and has suggested events be rescheduled if air quality is rated unhealthful: [Link]

Keep in mind this is a country that uses coal as a primary energy source, allows metal tailings to flow into rivers unregulated and prefers 'Sour Crude' oil instead of 'Brent Crude' or 'Sweet Crude' to drive their cars and buses. (Sour Crude contains more sulphur and costs more to refine but it is cheaper than Sweet Crude but pollutes more.)

The Chinese are building a $39 billion dollar city for the Beijing Olympics

The Chinese government is making a massive public investment not only in these upcoming games but also in their infrastructure of Beijing post Olympics. Once the venues are completed, plans have been made in regards to redistribution of these facilities for the public good.

The Water Cube, where all the aquatics events will take place, will become a public pool facility after the Olympics. The 2,000 apartments that comprise the Olympic village will be sold for public housing. They have built a reusable port for the regatta, an airport for transportation needs, and numerous stadiums to make this Olympics both a public relations and a social needs success.

I can't think of a better way to create new economies where none existed by using global tourist money to help pay for it. This is pure 'Adam Smith' capitalism which is ironic for a place who has Chairman Mao as a figurehead.

From the article:

"... In official estimates, in the 2002-2007 period investment in the Olympic preparations should reach about $18 billion. But the closer the Games, the more doubts there are about China's ability to keep within the announced budget. Quoting Beijing authorities, some foreign sources report that China will have to spend $8 billion on the construction of new underground lines and other transportation facilities, and an additional $5 billion on the building of satellite cities. The figure of $39 billion looks more authentic, but it absorbs only indirect spending on Olympic preparations. It does not cover the construction of sports facilities and development of a security system. Nor does it include the $8.5 billion that the port of Qingdao (Tsingtao - Western postal name) was going to spend on the preparations for the Olympic regatta in the Yellow Sea. ..." [Link]

Phelps inspired by Beijing's 'Water Cube"

I really do not like the architectural design for this aquatics facility. It's called the Water Cube and this will be the venue for all things aquatic for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Phelps and Katie Hoff gush:

• We went and saw it yesterday and it's definitely pretty cool," Phelps said during a visit to Shanghai on Thursday. "I think it's going to paint a picture for Katie and me in our my minds too, to really help us prepare for next year and get us more and more excited," he said. Covered in futuristic bubble wrap, the box-like National Aquatics Center, or "Water Cube," is one of the most striking of the venues going up for the Summer Games, at which Phelps is expected to dominate the swimming competition. [Link]
  

What mystifies me is that Katie Hoff is there, Michael Phelps, and Grant Hackett too with all of the above talent "pimping" the Water Cube, and Chinese swimmers. Why are they doing this? Why is there such a marketing effort as part of this aquatics facility build?

Here is a article that I feel might explain why. This paper is written in India; a country some believe has a national rivalry with China, so the article could be biased. [Link]

Here is an article that touts how marvelous the transparent plastic used to build this aquatics facility is. [Link]

Is it me or do sirens go off in your head about this pool when you read words like: semi-transparent plastic, chlorine, and direct sunlight. It sounds to me like it could become a mold and petrochemical nightmare.

Here is a link to the pool they should have emulated: The Munich Olympic Pool [Link]