Games bid puts focus on frugality

Skiers perform at the opening ceremony for the 14th Chongli International Ski festival near Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei province, Dec 6, 2014. [Photo/IC]

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics took place across 31 venues. Twelve were specially built for the Games, 11 were existing facilities that had been upgraded, and eight were temporary structures.

New uses were later found for many of the venues, and these fall into three categories:

1. Commercial activities. Examples include the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, the National Aquatics Center, or Water Cube, and the Wukesong Sports Center.

2. Professional training: For example, the Beijing Shooting Range and the Laoshan Velodrome.

3. Public physical exercise and teaching: For example, the stadiums at Peking University and the Beijing University of Technology.