Since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, where Australian skilled and trades workers proved just what they can do to make everything from venues to spectator services happen, Olympic organising committees have sought to involve Australians in future events. SkillsOne takes a look at just what Aussie skills are involved in the 2008 Beijing Olympics... and where we're headed next!

The Sydney Olympics were declared “the best ever” by the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch. So it's no surprise that the Australian Tourism Commission’s Olympic strategy was described as a role model for other host countries. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Organising Committee (BOCOG) forged their own plans drawn from examples of Australian innovation.

In the past, Australians have proven their world class expertise in design, especially in relation to sports facilities. For example, The Hanoi Stadium in Vietnam is a state-of-the-art 40,000 seat structure for the 2003 South East Asian Games - designed and engineered by Australian firms. 

"Australia's world class expertise in designing and building sports facilities has again been recognised by the awarding of this contract," Mr Vaile , former Minister for Trade, said about the project.

In particular, Australian architecture got its biggest international exposure this month - with at least seven of the most important venues at the 2008 Beijing Olympics being designed by Australian architectural practices.

Billions of television viewers worldwide, along with thousands of attendees and participants, have experienced the Australian-designed:

• National Aquatic Centre (the ‘Water Cube’) 
  
• Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Centre 
  
• Qingdao Olympic Sailing Facilities 
  
• Shun-Yi Olympic Aquatic Park 
  
• Beijing Olympic Green Archery Field 
  
• Beijing Olympic Green Hockey Stadium, and 
  
• Sha Tin Olympic Equestrian Venue 
  

All projects were designed by Australian-led architectural teams based in NSW, and under Chinese regulations, the architectural firms have partnered with Chinese firms. 

Among the most visible will be the much-lauded and anticipated ‘Water Cube’ in Beijing by Sydney-headquartered architectural practice PTW + Arup + CSCEC in China. The team used NASA-developed technology to create the building’s unique blue ‘bubble wrap’ exterior, which is also light, thin, sustainable, and earthquake-proofed. The iconic building is regarded as a perfect balance for the neighbouring main National Olympic Stadium, the ‘bird’s nest’ designed by leading international firm Herzog and de Meuron. 

A range of venues for six sports, including the Olympic Green Tennis Centre, have been designed by Australian-based practice Bligh Voller Nield (BVN). Most prominently is the 16-court Tennis Centre in Beijing, designed by BVN in collaboration with CCDI in China. The venue features a strong 12-sided design, with all sides rising up ‘like the petals of a flower’ according to BVN Principal Andrew Cortese. Post-Olympics, the centre is designed to become the new home for the Chinese Tennis Open.

BVN in collaboration with EDAW also designed the rowboat-inspired Shun-Yi Aquatic Park for all rowing, canoeing and white water rafting events in Beijing. The practice used the ‘natural beauty of rowing boats to guide the design for these buildings’. The upper levels ‘are contained within the dynamic curved roof and give the impression of being inside the boat hull, with spectacular views along and across the water’. All facilities within the 281 hectare site, including the whitewater kayak course, spectator stands, boatsheds and associated services, were designed by the firm.

BVN in collaboration with CCDI also designed the temporary Beijing Olympic Green Archery Field and the Beijing Olympic Green Hockey Stadium. BVN has offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne. 

In the coastal city of Qingdao, 500 kilometres east of Beijing, Sydney-based practice Cox Richardson and BIAD in China have designed the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Facilities comprising five venues, including the sport’s media centre and athletes village. The 1.5 hectare site was previously used for shipbuilding, with elements of its industrial heritage, such as cranes and a dry dock, incorporated into the new design.

In Hong Kong, the new Sha Tin Olympic Equestrian Venue on Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula, one of the world’s most densely populated areas, has been designed by Australian masters of equestrian architecture, Timothy Court & Company Architects, from the small town of Sutton Forest in New South Wales’ Southern Highlands. The project features a showjumping and dressage area with 20,000 temporary seats, 200 stables, a 5.8 kilometre cross country track, vet clinic and media centre. 

But Australia's contribution doesn't just involve the fields of design, architecture and construction. In the lead up to Athens in 2004 and Beijing this year, Australian skills have been involved for almost 7 years in many of the key facets of Olympic Games event management, staging, spectator services, security, hospitality, broadcasting and volunteer management. 

A particular strength of the Sydney 2000 Olympics Games were volunteers and this dimension has also been drawn on for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In 2005, Beijing held an international Forum on "Volunteer Service & People's Olympics" – where Chief Executive Officer of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Sandy Hollway, presented. Numerous visits to volunteer agencies and training services involved in our Games, such as The Centre for Volunteering, were visited by Chinese officials preparing BOCOG's plans. As CEO of one of the most successful games, Hollway himself provided skills and knowledge as a NSW Government advisor to BOCOG for several years.

Other Australian knowledge and skillsets are being drawn on in Beijing, such as Australian weather scientists. They are experimenting with state-of-the-art technologies at the 2008 Olympic Games. "Some of the best nowcasting people in the world are going to Beijing to try out their new systems and theories." Says Mr Bally, a forecast system scientist at the Australian Centre for Weather and Climate Research.

And, aware of it or not, we’ve already seen the impact of their work. In order to prevent rain during the Opening Ceremony, the weather teams had silver iodide fired into clouds causing showers and storms to fall anywhere but over the Bird's Nest stadium.

"We can't stand there and stop a thunderstorm from crossing the Beijing area but what we can do is give the organisers the best information possible so they can make the best decisions about how they manage that event," he said.

Mr Bally predicts, in speaking to ABC, that collaboration between the world's best scientists will lead to better forecasting practices being taken back to Australia.

Aussies Skilling The World

Skilled Australians involved in Beijing 2008 Olympic preparations cover all aspects of nearly all trades. Industries employed for the Beijing 2008 Olympics include:

The Future

And, this isn’t the end of the road for Australian Skills and Trades.

Australian companies are already involved in the early phases of delivery of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to a NSW Government Business site .

Australians are involved in delivering masterplanning, sports venues design, strategic advice to organisers and to government, volunteer training and services, design and construction of the Athlete's Village, and development of a retail precinct adjacent to the Olympic Green.

In the upcoming Olympics, we're not just going for Gold - but Green and Gold!