Beijing Olympic Forest Park
The largest park in the city, Beijing Olympic Forest Park is popular with families, sightseers and recreational runners and walkers. Its 680 hectares of undulating landscaped gardens include lakes, wooded areas, a man-made wetland, many kilometres of walking and jogging paths, football pitches, and basketball and badminton courts. The park is the venue for half-marathon races and was also the starting point for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 Torch Relay.
Reflecting China’s longstanding appreciation of nature, the park’s design and layout is inspired by Chinese culture and environmental aesthetics. Integrated into their urban surroundings and a haven for nature, the park’s strategically-located open spaces are designed to provide a place for local residents to escape from the stresses and strains of living in high-density urban areas.
Located next to the Olympic Village, the park was a leisure area for athletes, coaches and delegation staff at Games time. It was home to the Olympic Green Archery Field and Olympic Green Hockey Field, both temporary venues that hosted the archery and hockey competitions. It is also the location for what is now known as the National Tennis Centre, which staged the tennis competitions at Beijing 2008, and the Five Rings Pavilion, a 1,300 square-metre structure that takes the five Olympic rings as its core design element.