Venues of the 2008 Summer Olympics


For the 2008 Summer Olympics, a total of thirty-seven venues were used, thirty-one in Beijing, and six outside Beijing.
The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, China from 8 to 24 August 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 NOCs participated in 302 events in 28 sports held in 37 competition venues. Events took place at eleven pre-existing venues, twelve new venues constructed for the Olympics, and eight temporary venues that were removed following the games. In addition, six venues outside Beijing hosted events, two of which were newly built for the Olympics.
Beijing won its bid to host the 2008 Olympics on 13 July 2001. The first new venues to begin construction were the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Center, Beijing Shooting Range Hall, and the Laoshan Velodrome, where major work commenced in December 2003. By May 2007, construction had begun at all of the Beijing venues for the games. Approximately RMB¥13 billion was spent to build and renovate the venues.
Several of the venues were located at the Olympic Green Olympic Park. The largest venue at the games in terms of seating capacity was the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, which could at the time hold 91,000 spectators and was the site for the opening and closing ceremonies. The smallest venue in terms of seating capacity was the temporary Laoshan Mountain Bike Course, which had seating for 2,000 spectators.

Venues

Olympic Green

Universities Gymnasiums

VenueSportsCapacityRef.
Beijing Science and Technology University GymnasiumJudo, Taekwondo8,024
Beijing University of Technology GymnasiumBadminton, Gymnastics 7,500
China Agricultural University GymnasiumWrestling8,000
Peking University GymnasiumTable tennis8,000
Beihang University GymnasiumWeightlifting5,400
Beijing Institute of Technology GymnasiumVolleyball5,000

New competition venues

VenueSportsCapacityRef.
Beijing National Aquatic CenterSwimming, Diving and Synchronized Swimming17,000
Beijing National Indoor StadiumGymnastics, Handball 19,000
Beijing National StadiumAthletics, Football 91,000
Beijing Science and Technology University GymnasiumJudo, Taekwondo8,024
Beijing Shooting Range HallShooting 9,000
Beijing University of Technology GymnasiumBadminton, Gymnastics 7,500
China Agricultural University GymnasiumWrestling8,000
Laoshan VelodromeCycling 6,000
Olympic Green Tennis CenterTennis17,400
Peking University GymnasiumTable tennis8,000
Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing ParkRowing, Canoeing, and Swimming 37,000
Wukesong Indoor StadiumBasketball18,000

Existing competition venues

VenueSportsCapacityRef.
Beihang University GymnasiumWeightlifting5,400
Beijing Institute of Technology GymnasiumVolleyball5,000
Beijing Shooting Range Clay Target FieldShooting 5,000
Capital Indoor StadiumVolleyball 18,000
Fengtai Softball FieldSoftball13,000
Laoshan Mountain Bike CourseCycling 2,000
Olympic Sports CentreFootball, Modern Pentathlon 36,228
Olympic Sports Center GymnasiumHandball7,000
Workers Indoor ArenaBoxing13,000
Workers StadiumFootball70,161
Ying Tung NatatoriumWater Polo, Modern Pentathlon 4,852

Temporary competition venues

VenueSportsCapacityRef.
Beach Volleyball GroundVolleyball 12,000
BMX FieldCycling 4,000
Olympic Green Archery FieldArchery5,000
Olympic Green Convention CenterFencing, Modern Pentathlon 5,695
Olympic Green Hockey FieldField hockey17,000
Triathlon VenueTriathlon10,000
Urban Road Cycling CourseCycling n/a
Wukesong Baseball FieldBaseball18,000

Competition venues outside Beijing

VenueLocationSportsCapacityRef.
Hong Kong Equestrian VenuesHong KongEquestrian18,000
Qingdao International Sailing CenterQingdaoSailingn/a
Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center StadiumQinhuangdaoFootball33,572
Shanghai StadiumShanghaiFootball80,000
Shenyang Olympic Sports Center StadiumShenyangFootball60,000
Tianjin Olympic Center StadiumTianjinFootball60,000