Source: CCTV.com

12-18-2008 17:27

According to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the main Olympic stadium needs to be oriented north - south to prevent excessive sunlight irritating the eyes of the athletes.

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On top of this, the field for the 100 meters sprint and the long jump must be located on the east side of the north - south oriented stadium. Both events are popular among ordinary spectators.

Aware of these facts, Herzog and de Meuron designed their stands so they would form a saddle shape that would allow more spectators to watch these two popular events. However, architects have to be concerned about many other things aside from how to satisfy the needs of the spectators, and the most important of these is, of course, safety.

If on average a person weighs 80 kilograms, then the total weight of 100,000 people in the stadium comes to 7200 tons. But on top of this a total of 14,700 platforms of various sizes would be installed on the stands, the largest of which would weigh 18 tons. When all these figures are added together, the total load on the stands is enormous.

But is a load of 200 kilograms per square meter safe for a stadium? The answer is no. On May 5th, 1992, the semifinals of the French Cup were underway in the Furiani stadium (when tragedy struck).

At the very moment a goal was scored, the upper stands of the stadium suddenly collapsed, causing 700 casualties. It was the saddest accident in the entire history of football. According to an analysis carried out after the accident, the tragedy was caused by many people jumping out of excitement all at once. The momentary pressure proved to be too much for the stands.