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Life Inside the Beijing Olympic Village (people)

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

With athletes representing 205 nations housed in one complex, the Olympic Athletes Village is somewhere between a massive university campus and a luxury apartment complex.

It has 9,000 rooms in 42 buildings, is capable of housing 17,000 athletes, coaches and team officials, and has its own bank, post office, supermarket, travel agency, games arcade, gym, pool and medical facilities.

This time there's even some Chinese traditional medicine practitioners, like acupuncturists!

Then there's the dining hall, which seats 5,000 in five zones, serving a range of European, Asian and other food (yes, including McDonald's).

Many teams try to bring something of their homeland to the Village, not only to make their own athletes feel more at home, but also to let the other teams know that they've settled in for a couple of weeks.

In Beijing's Athletes Village, the New Zealand team has created something of a museum of Maori culture on their front lawn - including two totem poles guarding the entrance - and have images of the characters from the irreverent cartoon series Bro' Town on the walls of their common area.

The British - possibly in a tribute to Dr Who - have a red phone booth.

The Thais have brought buddhas and spicy food, the Argentines have built their own cyber cafe and the Swedes have brought sweets and their distinctive dark rye bread (knacke).

The Swiss have a Chinese kite hanging outside their apartment block, decorated with a Swiss dragon.

The Aussies have this Village thing down to a fine art, with boxing kangaroos, vegemite and all sorts of reminders of home including a giant thong.

As to what the athletes themselves think of their home away from home, the Olympic superstar, American swimmer Michael Phelps, gave it an early seal of approval.

"It's the nicest dorms I've been in. It's definitely better than the last two Olympics. The Village is cool ... there's little grassy areas, there are sculptures. It's a really neat environment."

Well, maybe not so neat, Michael. The organisers aren't thrilled to see national flags and banners hanging outside the various buildings because they make the place 'untidy'. Talk about the fun police!

Murray Brust in Beijing for Citysearch

View Citysearch's TV guide for details of Olympic Games coverage.