Shunyi Olympic rowing course moves on

China is already looking past the 2008 Olympics and on to the future. Beijing’s Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park is to be reoponed with a new purpose -as a tourist attraction in May this year.

It is always a challenge for Olympic hosts to make use of their Olympic venues and Beijing is planning to bring the tourists to Shunyi. The tourist website, travelchinaguide.com describes a variety of Olympic-themed cultural activities that are planned for the venue.

A floating podium will be set up and 100 hand moulds of Olympic champions have been put on display. The website also says recreational activities are available including “extreme drifting, flat-water experience and diving.”

The park is about an hour outside of Beijing and takes in 162 hectares of former farmland. It took two years to complete the venue with 400 000 square metres of lawn installed and 5 000 trees transferred and replanted in the area. The rowing and canoe course had 1.7 million cubic metres of water piped in to fill the course.

Meanwhile China is already looking ahead to winning medals at the 2012 Olympic Games. The honorary president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, He Zhenliang said that the national rowing team was aiming to training athletes like five-time Olympic Champion, Steven Redgrave.

At the Beijing Olympics China won their first ever Olympic gold medal in rowing and Zhenliang hopes that rowing will get even stronger in his country.

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