Yesterday (August 13, 2011) the Shenzhen Universiade started and Shenzhen held the opening ceremony that night. Our apartment is right beside the main stadium and so over the last 6 months we’ve seen Shenzhen getting ready for the games. Most of the preparations have been on making the area look nice but the last month has focuses on getting security and traffic controls in place.
Most people have probably never heard of the Universiade, also called the University Games or I like to stay the University Olympics since its pretty much the Olympics but for university students. I didn’t know it existed either or what it was until being in Shenzhen but it is like the Olympics and happens every four years and this is the 26th time. It is also a very big event with thousands of athletes, coaches and staff from all over the world coming to the event. To learn more about the actual event you can visit the official site at www.sz2011.org.
Now that the games are here I hope trying to get home and to the office doesn’t get any harder, but it looks OK today. Below are some pictures I took yesterday of the preparations and building that has happened. We will see how everything goes and I’ll try and catch up with some of the events on TV as its all played live here but not sure elsewhere in the world.
