You don't need to have the speed of Usaine Bolt or jump as high as Yelena Isinbayeva to stand on the podium at the Bird's Nest. Now anyone can experience the exalted feeling of winning an Olympic medal.
The experience comes with a price tag. The "Be an Olympic Champion" tourist package at the Bird's Nest costs 120 yuan ($17). Only 2,008 people a day have the opportunity to simulate the "champion" act.
Visitors paying for the experience can don Team China's Olympic costume and go up on the top spot on the winners' podium, receive a bouquet from a lady in the reception and pose for a photo with a fake gold medal held between one's teeth.
"People want to experience the feeling of being a champion," Zhang Hengli, manager of CITIC Consortium Stadium Operation Company, which runs the stadium, said yesterday. "We asked people what they wanted to do in the Bird's Nest after the Olympics and that was their answer."
"Our job is to make the Bird's Nest profitable, therefore we have to give the customers what they want," Zhang added. "The Olympic Champion package is one of the cultural activities we added to attract the tourists physically and psychologically. We had to find new meanings for the stadium."
Critics felt the Bird's Nest operator might have infringed on the copyright of the Olympics-related products, such as the uniform and the medals, by duplicating the Beijing Olympic award ceremony.
"We had taken the copyright issue into consideration before launching the package last October," said Zhang, "I don't think the ceremony contains any act of infringement."
"We just want people to enjoy the Olympic experience even though the Beijing Olympics is over," Zhang added. "Visitors standing on the winners' podium in the Bird's Nest will remember the experience forever."
Kungfu movie star Jackie Chan will perform at the massive Bird's Nest stadium on May 1.
The 91,000-seater stadium, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, has not been used since. Maintenance of the structure alone costs 60 million yuan annually, according to Xinhua. Even with "Olympic Champion" tour packages in place, turning the structure into a profit-making venture will take a while.
Questions:
1. Name two things people will get to do as part of the experience package.
2. What star will perform at Bird’s Nest stadium on May 1?
3. How many seats does Bird’s Nest have?
Answers:
1. Any of the following: go up on the top spot on the winners' podium, receive a bouquet from a lady in the reception and pose for a photo with a fake gold medal held between one's teeth.
2. Jackie Chan.
3. 91,000.
（英语点津 Helen 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.
