Swimming at the Water Cube

Good news for those who were disappointed to discover tickets to the Paralympic swimming events have already sold out. An article in today’s Beijing News quotes a spokesperson from the Olympic ticketing center as saying that it's likely that more tickets to events at the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube will be made available in the next few days. Maybe the appearance of extra tickets has something to do with the 350,000 “spectators” that were being brought in to make sure that there were no empty seats at events?

In even more exciting news Xinhua reports, not only will the Bird’s Nest, Water Cube and Olympic Park be opened up to tourists during the upcoming National Day Holidays, but, by the end of the year, we'll all be able to go swimming at the Water Cube. Vice Mayor of Beijing Chen Gang was quoted as saying that the Water Cube will be turned into an aquatic amusement park that will be open by the end of the year.

Until then, maybe you can get an idea of what it's like to jump from the 10m diving tower at the Water Cube via this great interactive feature over at the New York Times that we first saw linked to over at Shanghaiist. You can listen as US Diver Thomas Finchum give an introduction to what it's like to be up on the tower as you navigate your way around a 360 shot of the view from the tower.

You can also check out this website for some tacky Water Cube memorabilia, a Water Cube ashtray anyone?

As for the other Olympic venues, if you can’t wait till October to get into the Olympic Park, you should be able to get access to the park with any ticket to a Paralympic event taking place in the Olympic Green – however, you’ll need to be quick as tickets to weekend tennis, fencing and other events taking place on the green have already sold out. See this earlier post for details of how to get Paralympic tickets.

As for the Bird’s Nest, aside from the likelihood of more Paralympic tickets becoming available or buying a ticket to tour the venue during the October holidays, you’ll probably be able to see some big Hong Kong or Taiwanese star performing there soon. However, it's not going to be Jay Chou (Zhou Jielun). According to a report on the Sina website, Zhou turned down the chance to be the first musician to hold a solo concert in the Bird's Nest his manager explained that the megastar had recently held a concert in Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium and that it wouldn’t make sense to have another concert so soon.

Links and Sources
Xinhua: Beijing Olympic venues to open to tourists in October
The Beijing News: 残奥会场馆门票有望追加
The New York Times: The Diver’s View - Thomas Finchum, an American diver competing in Beijing, describes the view from the 10-meter platform at the Water Cube.
Shanghaiist: DIY at the Water Cube thanks to NY Times
LA Times: Matthew Mitcham of Australia wins gold in 10-meter platform diving
Namixin.com: Watercube Bling
The Beijinger: You too can celebrate the Olympics by flicking your ashes into the Water Cube
Sina: Zhou Jielun passes on opportunity to be the first singer to appear at the Bird’s Nest