Olympics & Qingdao
In the midsummer of 2008, the sailing events of 29th Olympic Games and 13th Paralympic Games were held in Qingdao, with 11 and 3 gold medals respectively. A total of 400 athletes from 62 countries and regions participated in the Olympic sailing event and 80 athletes from 25 countries and regions participated in the Paralympic sailing event. Chinese sailing team won one gold medal and one bronze medal in the event, realizing the breakthrough of gold medal in sailboard event and the breakthrough of “zero” medal in sailboat event in the history of Olympic Games. The 100-year Qingdao closely connected with the 100-year Olympic Games, showing a passionate and magnificent picture of thousands of boats setting sailing, and playing a florid movement of “One World, One Dream” to the world.
Since 1998, Qingdao actively took part in the bid for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. On July 13, 2001, Beijing eventually won the bid for 2008 Olympic Games and Qingdao became a co-host city of Beijing at the same time. In June 2003, Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee was established. After five years’ hard endeavor, Olympic Sailing Event and Paralympic Sailing Event are crowned with complete success, realizing the goal of “international community satisfaction, athletes’ satisfaction and people satisfaction” by scientific event organization, strict security, highly efficient urban operation, passionate voluntary service, standard reception, good media publicity and beautiful urban environment. As a result, Qingdao was fully recognized by Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and was highly appraised by Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee, International Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee.
When preparing for the Olympic Sailing Event and Paralympic Sailing Event, Qingdao gave prominence to the theme of “New Qingdao, New Olympics”, followed the ideas of “Green Olympics, Hi-tech Olympics and the People’s Olympics” and made great efforts to realize the goal of “high-level Olympic Games with distinguishing features”. Making the best of the combination of mountain, water and city, and the urban feature of harmony between man and nature, Qingdao exerts great efforts in developing marine sport and has established an Asia-best and international advanced marine sport base, showed the feature of “Marine Olympics”, and made efforts to create the “capital of sailing” in China.
Inspired by the Olympic spirit, Qingdao promotes coordinated development of sport undertakings, sport industries, competitive sports and mass sports, and quickens its march towards a major sports city. National body-building sport is vigorously developed; since 2003, Qingdao has held the opening ceremony of nationwide mountain-climbing sport each year, and the sport has become a widely known “Brand” activity. Qingdao is the hometown of field and track events and the city of football in China. At the 29th Olympic Games Qingdao’s athletes won one gold medal, one silver medal and two bronze medals, realizing the breakthrough of “zero” gold medal of Qingdao in Olympic Games. At the Paralympic Games Qingdao’s athletes won one gold medal and one silver medal, and the national blind football team trained for a long time in Qingdao won a silver medal. In 2009, the 11th Chinese National Games were held in Shandong Province. Qingdao, as the subzone for the largest number of events outside the provincial capital of Jinan, closely combined the Olympic standards with the characteristics of the national games, held 13 events, presented 48 gold medals, and was given the title of “The Best Zone”; Qingdao’s athletes won 24.5 gold medals and 60 medals of the national games, achieving the best result in the history, and Qingdao ranked first among the 15 sub-provincial cities. Qingdao is home to the summer training base of the Chinese national badminton team and has introduced the Sudirman Cup badminton event, the Diving World Series, Qingdao, the World Judo Grand Prix, China, the National Swimming Championship and the Selective Trial for the Asian Games, and other major events. All these fully show the city’s charm on sport development.
The successful Olympic Sailing Event and Paralympic Sailing Event have not only showed the appeal of a prosperous, civilized and harmonious city, adding Qingdao element to modern sailing sport, but also set a new milestone for the 100-year Qingdao, leaving rich Olympic heritages. Olympic effect is accelerating the great change of the city, Olympic culture is improving the level of the city’s civilization, and Olympic spirit is inspiring all the citizens to walk towards the future with a brand-new look!
Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center
Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center is located on the old site of the Beihai Shipyard by Qingdao’s Fushan Bay in the eastern new zone, neighboring on May 4th Square and Donghai Road. It occupies about 45 hectares, including 30 hectares of stadium area and 15 hectares of post-event development area. The necessary facilities of Olympic Sailing Event and Paralympic Sailing Event include the Olympic Sub-Village, the athletes’ center, the administration and competition management center, the press center and the logistic and functional center. The affiliated facilities include the measurement hall dock, the boat parking area, the major breakwater, the secondary breakwater, an embankment, a quay featuring the Olympic Memorial Wall, etc.
As for the planning and design, Qingdao, adhering to the principles of “sustainable development, putting into full play after events, leaving Olympic heritage”, has combined the construction of Olympic sailing stadium with long-term urban development and industry distribution, pioneering in establishing Olympic sailing stadium in urban core area. International bidding was adopted for all project plans, introducing advanced planning conception, planning team and scientific methods, which not only strictly followed the requirement of event venues by International Sailing Federation, but also fully considered the requirement of overall urban planning. All steps and details have showed the conception of “green, hi-tech, people-oriented”, not only paying attention to environmental protection, but also attaching importance to continuing historic context. Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center has become a modern stadium combining advanced architectural technology with green environmental protection and humanistic care.
In construction, Qingdao, adhering to the principles of “thrift, sunshine, clean”, has made full use of the original facilities of Beihai Shipyard, and thus has saved a large investment. Qingdao has selected experienced construction teams with advanced technology and equipment, adopted first-class construction technology, high quality engineering materials and scientific construction supervision, carried out public bidding policy for project design, construction and materials, and established Olympic Sailing Supervision Committee to track and audit Olympic Sailing Center project in the entire process to ensure the security and highly efficient use of construction fund.
In investment mode, Qingdao, adhering to the principles of “no financial input, market operation”, has totally invested 3.28 billion yuan in Olympic Sailing Center (1.78 billion yuan of compensation for Beihai Shipyard removal and 1.5 billion yuan of project construction investment). All the fund came from the selling of development area, the post-event use of stadium and facilities and other market financing methods, which has basically realized the balance between income and expenditure.
Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center is not only a world-class sailboat race stadium, but also a new city landmark landscape. Main structures are awarded “Luban Award”, the top award of Chinese engineering quality. Chairman Goran Petersen, International Sailing Federation said, “Qingdao Olympics stadium is the best Olympic water sport stadium I have ever seen.” During the games, it is a competition venue with complete function and advanced facilities; after the games, it is a tourist, leisure, body-building and entertainment place, and a 5A-class tourist attraction open to public. It has become a marine sport center to popularize sailboat and sailboard sports in the whole country and a training base of teenager sailboat sport.
In February 2009, the toughest and the most challenging navigation event – Volvo Ocean Race made a stopover in Qingdao for the first time, which is the first China’s stopover port in the new ship route of the Race. This not only is the first international race Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center held after the Olympic Games, but also makes the Center the first to hold international race in all stadiums of Beijing Olympic Games after the Olympic Games. Meanwhile, it has introduced the Clipper global sailing event and other international sailing races. From 2009, the Olympic Sailing Center will hold the activity of Qingdao International Sailboat Week in each August, the annual Asian-European International Sailboat Invitational Tournament, International OP Sailboat Summer Camp and Qingdao International OP Sailboat Race, “Mayor Cup” Qingdao-Dalian Sailboat Rally, National Sailboat Championship, Qingdao Marine Sampan Game and other domestic and overseas sailboat and marine sport events. It will gradually become an international famous water sport center and a major carrier of international sports cultural exchanges, enlarging the brand effect of the “capital of sailing” and further showing the charm and image of Qingdao.
