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2008 Olympic Games
Table Tennis Venue
The 2008 Olympics was table tennis at its best - check out the Olympic venue...
By Martin Hughes
Owner and Editor
The People's Republic of China hosted the Olympic Games in Beijing from the 8 to 24 August 2008.
The table tennis competition started on Wednesday 13 August 2008, and with the home nation expected to take several gold medals, there was a fantastic atmosphere.
A fabulous new state-of-the-art venue, 8km from the Olympic Village, was built at Peking University specifically for this event - so the players had the best possible conditions in which to play.
It had seating for 8,000 spectators - with 6,000 seats being permanent and 2,000 temporary.
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The facilities were excellent...
Facilities at the Peking university gymnasium
Playing area
The playing area was situated at the centre of the Peking University Gymnasium. It held eight tables, enclosed by playing area surrounds, with each court measuring 16m x 8m.
During the first 2 days of the team competitions, the contests were played on 8 tables at the same time. In the remaining days the number of tables used at the same time changed from four to two and one respectively.
Warm-up Area
There was a warm-up area with sixteen courts, each of them measuring 14m x 7m, in the basement of the competition venue.
Air Conditioning
The Peking University Gymnasium was the world's first sports venue designed and built for table tennis competitions. Table tennis players require an environment with few distractions and therefore air conditioning is very important.
The venue addressed this requirement with an air conditioning system that released air no faster than 0.2 m/sec.
The spectator seats had air replacement vents installed underneath, thus lessening the reliance on air conditioning.
The gymnasium's double-layer metal surface was waterproof and heat insulating. It also eliminated noise from rainfall, and the walls also absorbed sounds.
Here's a video showing the Olympics table tennis venue
courtesy of china daily
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