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Why do we use the past simple instead of the present perfect in the last sentence (WAS AWARDED)?
When the Beijing Olympic pool was first built, it was called the water cube due to its extraordinary cube-shaped exterior. Now, several years after the Olympics, the inside is just as incredible. The place where Michael Phelps WAS AWARDED eight gold medals has transformed into an enormous indoor water park.
We use the past (preterite) tense because we are talking about an event in the past. Indeed there is a clearly implied time in the past: "the time of the Beijing Olympics".
When we are talking about an event at a particular time in the past the preterite is used. The present perfect can be used to talk about the present state resulting from past events, or other situations in which there is a clear link to the present.
