by Beth Rifkin
Pop quiz!
Name three things a professional tennis player and a Lotus flower have in common.
1. Passion
2. The ability to rise up through murky situations
3. The Olympic Green Tennis Center in Beijing
In preparation for the 2008 games this August, Beijing organizers spared no imagination on a brand new tennis center.
Ten competition courts, six practice courts and 17,400 seats make up the state of the art facility. Unlike anything the sports world has seen, the stadium holding the three main competition courts features a 12-sided shape-or 12 petals-representing a Lotus flower design. Inspirational, beautiful, spiritual and well, smart; the innovative design is Green friendly, filled with universal WiFi, cable TV, has a digital safety network, an intelligent lighting system and uses solar energy.
No “extreme heat” worries here; though the Olympics will take place during the warmest time of the year in Beijing, the flower-shaped stadium is designed for natural ventilation. Air is collected through inlets at the top of each of the 12 petals (which are 12 stands of spectator seating)-it is then recycled and released by vents throughout the courts cooling things down a bit. And after all that, if the action on the court still makes the temperature rise, the stands are equipped with automatic curtains to provide shade for spectators.
Perfection, purity, divinity – even the cheap seats are gold! The back seats have been built nine centimeters higher than the front seats for optimal viewing (that’s 3 cm higher than normal stadiums) and the stands are steep enough so that no matter where seated, fans will have no problem seeing if the ball hit the line or not.
Talk about love, wisdom and compassion!
Namaste.
For more information: www.itftennis.com
Pictured above: Chilean Nicolas Massu, men's singles Gold Medal winner, 2004 Olympic Games, Athens, Greece
January 9, 2008
