Germany has sent a weighty team to the Olympic test event in Beijing this week. There at the China Open from January 31 to February 5 will be world record holder Britta Steffen, world silver medallist Annika Lurz and long-time backstroke threat at all events she attends, Antje Buschschulte. Petra Dallman is the only member of the German world-record-breaking quartets of 2006 not to make the journey east.

Also there for the test event is Stefan Nystrand (SWE), who told assembled media in Beijing: 'It's an important meet for me. I think it's great to be here since it's the same pool as the Olympics. I don't know why more top guys aren't showing up.' Perhaps they're back home training, Stefan. Just a thought - one that I'm sure one of the favourites for the 50 and 100m free crowns must have thought about.

The Watercube, one of the iconic venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was officially unveiled today. While organising committee president Liu Qi dipped his hand in the water, Beijing mayor Guo Jin Long cupped his hands together and drank from the Olympic waters to be.

The National Aquatics Center, better known as the Watercube, has been dubbed the 'cool' building of the Games, its translucent, blue-toned outer skin akin to neon bubble wrap.

Zheng Fang, an architect and chief of the design team for China Construction Design International, said: 'There are many different buildings in the world and I believe this could be one of the most significant sports venues.' With 6,000 permanent and 11,000 temporary seats, the venue will come alive from 08-08-08 but is now ready for the test event that begins on January 31.

The Watercube and the main stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, are located several hundred meters from each other, either side of a so-called 'sacred' north-south axis. The complex is 8km north of the world's largest public plaza, Tiananmen Square - where students and intellectuals who dared to ask for change were crushed by tanks in 1989, the death toll put at between 200 and 800 depending on who you listen to - and the Forbidden City.

You can read some worthy words and see pictures and videos of the Watercube, as well as wade through not a little official claptrap here.

The Germany squad:

Women: Antje Buschschulte (SC Magdeburg), Britta Steffen (SG Neukölln), Annika Mehlhorn (SG ACT/Baunatal), Meike Frei- tag (SG Frankfurt/Main), Franziska Hentke, Theresa Michalak, Daniela Schreiber (alle SV Halle/Saale), Nina Sciffer (SSF Bonn), Daniela Götz (SSG 81 Erlangen), Annika Lurz (SV Würzburg 05), Birte Steven (AMTV-FTV Hamburg).

Men: Helge Meeuw (SG Frankfurt/Main), Christian Kubusch (SC Magdeburg), Andreas Lösel (SSG 81 Erlangen), Benjamin Starke (SG Neukölln), Paul Biedermann (SV Halle/Saale), Steffen Deibler (TG Biberach).