Olympic Games

Venues-Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park

Shunyi: Beijing's rowing venue

Last Updated: Thursday, August 13, 2009 | 2:32 PM ET

Bernice Chan CBC Sports

A view of the newly completed Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on the outskirts of Beijing, 25 July 2007. (Peter Parks/Getty Images)Shunyi is an interesting neighbourhood on the northeast side of Beijing, on the way to the airport. It is the home of the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park.

This is where many foreigners with fat expatriate packages live in gated communities with Western-style houses. They have names like Euro-Village, Capital Paradise and Yosemite Villas. Many international schools are in the area too, some giant complexes that from the outside look more like a factory than an educational institution.

Athletes take to the water during the offical opening of the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on July 28, 2007 in Beijing, China. (China Photos/Getty Images)Across the street from these posh homes are poor villages, Chinese people living in rundown homes made of brick and concrete. The stark contrast is so bizarre one wonders how one group feels about the other, but somehow they coexist.

It’s set in a giant rectangular stretch of land specifically built for the Olympics. Thirty-two gold medals are up for grabs for the rowing, canoeing, kayaking, and marathon swimming events. Most of the park is made up of a giant manmade body of water, also rectangular, with a thin island in the middle.

Stunning architecture

Spectators will enjoy watching the competition in the main stands, which looks like a giant white “C” that seems to float in the water. It can hold up to 37,000 people, most of them in temporary seats.

Another piece of stunning architecture is the floating boathouse. It has a distinctive roof that’s wavy, like ripples of water. The complex also includes a flat-water boathouse that also shows off some curves.

Beijing Olympic organizers boast that this venue is the world’s only first-class rowing-canoeing venue that has both flat-water and slalom courses. They also boast that the park, filled with trees, is a “natural oxygen bar.” With Beijing’s pollution woes, athletes and visitors will probably appreciate whatever the trees can do to help them breathe easier.

Organizers say that when the Games are over the park will be transformed into a world-class resort for swimming and recreation.