Upon visiting the World Athletics site I ran across an article on the new Tokyo Olympic Stadium. It replaced the old stadium which hosted the 1964 Olympics, the stadium where Bob Hayes was crowned the fastest man on Earth. The new stadium is a beauty.
In the picture below, taken when the stadium was still under construction, one sees that the seats are not uniformly coloured. The architect, K. Kuma, opted for a stadium look reminiscent of the traditional japanese temples, a "living-tree" design. The seats are of earthy and green tones in order to mimic sunlight filtering through the trees, while the Mondo track plays the role of the forest floor.
I really cross my fingers for the Olympic Games not to be cancelled at the last moment.
When I arrived at the last part of the article I could not believe my eyes. Seven "iconic" olympic stadia were shown: Stockholm (1912), Los Angeles (1932), Berlin (1936), Munich (1972), Montreal (1976), Beijing (2008) and London (2012).
Correct me if I am wrong, but is there a stadium more "iconic" than the Panathenaicon Stadion in Athens?
It hosted three Olympiads, in 1896, in 1906 (the famous Intercalated Gales) and events of the 2004 Olympics, including the arrival of the Marathon race. No other stadium on Earth comes even close. Its omission form the "iconic" list can mean one of two things: either the author of the text does not know what he is talking about or he believes that the role of Greece in the modern Olympics has been greatly exaggerated. What a shame for somebody who publishes in the WA site!
I really could not believe my eyes.
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