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One night in the Nest
By Zhao Huanxin
China Daily Staff Writer
Updated: 2008-08-21 10:34
My son was loving it, but complained he did not have enough eyes for all that deserved to be watched. High jump athletes dressed in different colors had been jumping over or hitting bars of different heights throughout the night while the women's 100m final, men's hammer throw, men's 1,500m semi-final and women's triple jump were simultaneously being held.
The Bird's Nest is packed with crowds cheering for Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica (3rd R) as she crosses the finish line to win the women's 100m final. [Agencies] |
But undoubtedly he had one more thing to be proud of: adding Jamaica to his modest vocabulary: "Jamaica! Jamaica! Jamaica!" We had practiced the word at top pitch so many times as three Jamaicans featured in the women's 100m finals, with sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser leading a clean sweep for the Carribean country, devastating her rivals in a head-to-head showdown to become the world's fastest woman. The Jamaican squad also smashed some other challengers in other races on Sunday night.
Fierce racing aside, there was also a lighter note in the stadium on Sunday night. When the packed audience heard it was Romania's Constanina Tomescu's birthday, crowds sang Happy Birthday, followed by thunderous applause. She celebrated wining the first ever women's Olympic marathon title for her country as well as her 38th birthday.
When we filed out of the Nest at around 11pm, we joined streams of people lingering on the boulevard between the Nest and the Water Cube. Also called the National Aquatics Center, the bubble-shaped futuristic venue struck us. It looked truly awesome as it glowed in a raft of colors against the backdrop of the night.
There my son saw many things to his surprise: people wearing not only huge, colored wigs we had never seen before, but also national flags; people singing the Olympic theme song You and Me in different languages to the music and rhythm coming from the loudspeakers; and in the twilight people of different countries posing for pictures in front of the Nest with the Olympic torch in the background.
On our way home, we saw entire families of sports fans — dressed in shirts painted with bold slogans and sporting faces with stickers reading "One World, One Dream" and "love" heart signs.
Compared to them, my family was much less prepared for the festivities. But we had one thing in common: We all spent a night right in the Nest, for us to remember for all our days to come.