Guangdong Olympic Sports Center

This guide to the Guangdong Olympic Sports Center in Guangzhou follows a stadium built to chase a prize it never got: ground broke in December nineteen ninety-eight for what was meant to host events at the two thousand eight Summer Olympics, before organizers awarded the games to Beijing instead. It traces the petal-shaped canopy raised anyway, the opening ceremony before president Jiang Zemin and thousands of athletes at the Ninth National Games in two thousand one, and the world records broken there. From Manchester United's visit in two thousand seven to Asian Games sprinters in two thousand ten, you'll hear how an Olympic stadium with no Olympics kept finding uses. Look up at the petals built for a torch lit somewhere else.