The Beijing National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, is an aquatics centre that was built alongside Beijing National Stadium in the Olympic Green for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Ground was broken on December 24, 2003. The Aquatics Centre hosted the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo events during the Olympics. It had a capacity of 17,000 during the games that has been reduced to 6,000. It also has a total land surface of 65,000 square metres.