WAB Students Named ‘Beijing Olympic Young Journalists’
Grade 7 students Sophie Stewart and Michael Li have
been given the extraordinary opportunity to experience
and report on preparations for the Bejing 2008 Olympics
as part of the Olympic Young Journalists competition,
sponsored by the Chinese news agency Sina.
Sophie and Michael are joining other young reporters
from across Beijing on a series of tours, interviews
and site visits connected with the upcoming Games.
Excerpts from the students’ articles will be run
as a regular feature in upcoming issues of Lianxi.
This week, Michael and Sophie take us on a sneak peak
tour of the Bird’s Nest and to a major press conference
for US Olympic athletes.
One Bird’s Nest...One World, One Dream
On April 7, I, along with my classmate Sophie and 10
students from six other schools, was given an once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to meet and interview the architect of the
2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium, or ‘The Bird’s
Nest.’
This trip was planned by a new organization called “Young
Journalists for the Olympic Games.”
The Bird’s Nest is a gigantic knot of steel and
concrete designed to symbolize harmony between land and
air as well as a mutual relationship between humans and
animals.
The Bird’s Nest was chosen from six different designs
in a competition and was designed by a Swiss architect,
who just happens to be the cousin of Sophie’s godfather.
The Bird’s Nest will be a very special part of
the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It will host both the opening
and closing ceremonies, all track and field events and
soccer games.
The stadium is enormous. Its surface area is around
250,000 m2 and can fit a maximum of 91,000 spectators!
Since the Nest is so huge, a lot of metal was needed
to construct it.
This was one of the architects’ largest worries.
However, six of China’s largest metal factories
produced around 40,000 tons of metal for the stadium’s
construction.
The project was estimated to cost 4 billion RMB or 520
million USD. So far, it has cost about 3.4 billion RMB
or 440 million USD.
Michael Li
Michael described his reaction to being invited
to participate as a Young Journalist: “I feel
very connected to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.”
“Both of my parents work for General Electric,
which is an official sponsor of the Beijing Games and
is providing power, lighting and security systems for
the Bird’s Nest and the Blue Cube.”
The games will also be broadcast to the whole world
by GE’s NBC channels. I know my parents and their
colleagues are working very hard to help make the Olympics
successful.”
“Together with Sophie, I am proud to represent
WAB’s international community as a ‘Young
Journalist.’ At WAB, we share the same spirit of “One
World, One Dream” as the Olympics.”
Olympic Press Conference
On Monday April 9, Michael and I attended a press conference
with several US Olympic athletes, including Michael Phelps,
Megan Jendrick, Ryan Lochte and Katie Hoff.
Before the conference started, Michael and I watched
the professional photographers and journalists set up
their cameras. We both felt quite nervous because we
were the only students there.
The conference started with the athletes thanking their
sponsors and explaining why they were in China - to support
the Special Olympics and to get to know the culture.
The athletes talked about their favorite experiences
in China, including learning about its culture and helping
Special Olympics athletes.
I was not surprised to find that almost all of the reporters’ questions
were directed to Michael Phelps.
Afterwards, the athletes broke off to answer questions
individually with reporters.
Michael and I interviewed three of them and received
their autographs. Because most of the reporters had asked
the athletes about their careers, I questioned them as
to what they did when they were not training, and was
surprised to find that they were much like us in their
hobbies and activities.
Unfortunately, we were unable to get Michael Phelps’s
autograph, since he had many keen reporters following
him.
However, I really enjoyed the whole conference. To be
part of the Olympics in any way, especially to be able
to interview different athletes, is an amazing experience.
Sophie Stewart
Sophie Stewart expressed her investment in this
writing opportunity: “I am particularly interested in being
a ‘Young Journalist’ because I have several
connections to the Olympics. First, my godfather’s
cousin was the architect selected to design the Olympic
Stadium.”
“Secondly, I recently met a friend of my father’s
who works on the Olympic committee.”
“Thirdly, my father himself was in the New
Zealand Olympic volleyball team, but was unable to
go because of what was happening in Moscow at the time.”
“I am also very keen to find out more about the
Olympics, especially since this is the first time I’ve
lived in a host country during the time leading up to
the Games.” |
