近日，以“奥运史话——从雅典到北京”为主题的沙雕公园，在第九届中国舟山国际沙雕节开幕后向游人开园，伴着蓝天碧海，许海峰、刘翔与五位“福娃”一齐亮相浙江舟山朱家尖岛海滨。
　　在长200米、宽50米的海滩上，一尊巨大的北京奥运会火炬沙雕成为这座公园的主体形象。公园内由50多个沙雕构成的三大组合沙雕群，分别将古希腊奥运历史、历届奥运会盛况和北京2008奥运会予以生动展现。
　　据沙雕节组委会有关负责人介绍，本届沙雕节是北京奥组委批准的第29届奥运会组委会文化活动部支持活动之一。为迎接2008年北京奥运会倒计时一周年，沙雕节推出的奥运沙雕公园于8月8日开始堆沙作业，从9月16日起，来自中国、美国和俄罗斯等10个国家的30名沙雕艺术家汇聚朱家尖岛，经历近半个月的烈日曝晒和台风肆虐，终于精雕细凿出奥运沙雕公园的全部塑像。专程前往舟山担任沙雕节比赛评委的国际沙雕界专家艾泼·冯格尔说：“无论从公园创意还是从造型风格看，这些沙雕都近乎完美地体现了‘更快、更高、更强’的奥运精神，三大组合沙雕群的体量更是与朱家尖岛的海滨环境相得益彰。”
　　
　　本届沙雕节开幕后将延续至2007年11月底，但舟山奥运沙雕公园的沙雕群像将在海滨一直伫立至2008年7月底，它将以独特的艺术形式迎接北京奥运会。
　　自从1999年舟山举办首届国际沙雕节以来，沙雕就成为当地旅游业一笔巨大的无形资产，朱家尖岛的年游客量也由原来的40万人次增至目前的近150万人次。仅2006年沙雕节期间，这个只有2.6万常住人口的海岛就吸引了27.8万游客。
　　
　　Olympic Images in Sand Sculptures
　　By Tan Jin
　　
　　On September 29th, 2007, the Olympics Sand Sculpture Park opened to the general public in Zhujiajian Islet in Zhoushan Archipelago，Zhejiang Province. The park was the result of the Ninth China Zhoushan International Sand Sculpture Festival starting on September 19.
　　
　　
　　
　　The beach site for the sculptures measures 200 meters in length and 50 meters in width. This is an event accredited by the organizing committee of the 29th Beijing Olympic Games.
　　The theme sculpture for this exhibition is a giant torch of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The initial preparations for the sand sculptures started on August 8th, 2007, marking the one year countdown to the 29th Beijing Olympic Games. Over 30 artists from ten countries such as USA, Russia and China started their individual sculptures on September 19th. They worked for ten days against sweltering heat and storms before they successfully created over 50 sculptures featuring the theme of “History of the Olympics-From Athens to Beijing? The sculptures featured historical events and figures of the Olympics, including ancient Athens Olympic Games, all previous modern Olympic Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The figures include Liu Xiang, China’s Olympic 110-meter hurdle champion in Athens, Xu Haifeng, China’s first ever Olympic gold medalist and five Fuwas, the official mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　The sand sculpture festival will last till November, 2007, but the Olympic sculptures will go through July, 2008. It is designed to serve as a special event to usher in the Beijing Olympic Games.
　　Since the first international festival in 1999 in Zhoushan, sand sculptures have become a huge intangible asset for the local tourism in the country’s largest archipelago. Since then, the annual arrival has increased from 400,000 to nearly 1.5 million. During the 2006 sand sculpture festival, 278,000 tourists flocked to the islet where 26,000 residents live.
　　(Translated by David)