the games of my life

So I was lucky enough to find good friends in Beijing who gave me free tickets (some British dudes at the hotel were selling theirs for 500 dollars!) to the Athletics Finals on the 21st. This was supposed to be a big game for China because their national sports hero Liu Xiang, was suppose to compete for this event, but since he was injured, this was totally unpredictable.


My Beijing friends Jessie (from Adidas- Beijing, who gave us the tickets!) and Lan (Coordinator for International Students at the Peking University)


The stadium was packed to the brim but we got good seats on the 1st tier.


The only problem was, I only had a 70-210 mm Nikkor lens which was pretty useless even with its range considering how massive the stadium was


The finals of the women’s 400 m relay


Finals of the men’s triple jump




The men’s 400 meter run where USA swept all three medals


And the much anticipated event of the entire games – Liu Xiang’s 110 meter steeplechase (sorry but the event was on the other side of the oval! Grrrr!)


Dayton Robles of Cuba was eventually crowned winner but didn’t break the world record.


The Bird’s Nest on spotlight


Spectators going out after the event


Even the lights around were inspired by the stadium!


And from afar (this was shot almost at midnight already, but the crowds just refused to go


And of course, the Water Cube


Michael Phelps and the water cube were like coffee and cream


The lit Teflon surfaces up close


The spectacular media center which was also an astonishing structure unto itelf.


The Olympic line subway station. You can only ride this subway if you’re a ticket holder!

Now if only we can get tickets too for the Closing Ceremonies! Last time I checked, the cheapest one was resold at $1,500!!!

olympic fever

So finally I had a chance to get tickets to watch the games (Athletics Finals) at the Bird’s Nest – for free! A friend of a friend of a friend who I met in Cambodia happens to work for Adidas which is a major sponsor to the Olympics so I managed to get in the park and the stadium.



But even just in the park alone (it’s so massive, I’m not kidding!) you have so many things to do. Unfortunately, not everybody can come in. Only those who had tickets can go in or those who have Olympic IDs. But since I had both of them, you can go in to any sponsor’s halls and just have fun!

Glimpse of the bird's nest


There were sexy drumbeaters clad in space suits performing on the Lenovo stage


The giant Chinese national Olympic jacket and my tiny self. The jacket was sold out so I had to literally grab the last one from the mannequin!


Spectacular spiraling screens showing the Olympic history on the Adidas Hall



Lit Chinese drums on the escalator up the McDonald’s Cube (yup, they have a version too of the Water Cube)



Dribblers and Chinese acrobats at the PICC (Insurance) stage


The spectacular GE hall which featured an electronic water screen


The Formula 1 Hall of BMW, Audi and Volkswagen


China Mobile’s Electronics Hall (You can watch the games through your phone!)


And the State Grid’s “Light” Hall


Now if only they had spas inside the park! You couldn't imagine the amount of walking we had exploring the area!

To my friend Lan, thank you so much for the chance of a lifetime! Beijing totally rocks!