Within a few minutes' walk of Meyer's home is Liulichang, Beijing's 750-meter (half-mile) antiques street which has flourished since the Yuan dynasty 800 years ago.

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The most popular distance - the sprint triathlon - is composed of a 500-meter swim, a 12-mile bike ride, and a 5k run.

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The saucer section would be a 0.3-mile-diameter (536-meter-diameter) rotating, magnetically suspended gravity wheel that would create 1G of gravity.

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