Many Olympic sports require specialized facilities that, after the games are over, often fall into disrepair or are dismantled altogether.
Calgary, however, has managed to not only maintain most of the venues it built for the 1988 Winter Games but expand on them, too.
?The facilities here are not only still relevant, they?re flourishing,? said Dale Oviatt, communications director for Winsport, which operates the ski hill, sliding tracks, ski jumps and ice surfaces at Canada Olympic Park.
?When you look at some of the previous countries that have hosted Winter Olympics,? Oviatt added, ?their venues are no longer used for what they were intended for, or they?re completely shut down.?
By comparison, COP still hosts World Cup luge, bobsled, and skeleton events, as well as freestyle ski and snowboard competitions. The same facilities are also regularly used for public recreation.
The national ski jumping team still trains on COP?s smaller ski jumps, and while the largest jump is no longer in use, Oviatt said it?s largely because athletes? ability and equipment has advanced so much the jump would need to be retrofitted for safety.
?They would pretty much almost land on the Trans-Canada Highway,? Oviatt said.
The Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary, meanwhile, has not only remained a hub for competition and training ? and become known for being ?the fastest ice in the world? ? but has also grown into a centre for sporting excellence, in general.
?This building, connected with the sport medicine centre, Canadian Sport Centre Calgary, and the research the laboratories at the university, has created one of the greatest training environments you will find in any country, in any city in the world,? said Roger Jackson, who served as CEO of Own The Podium 2010. ?You just cannot put together what we have put together on the campus for high-performance sport.?
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Catriona Le May Doan recalled dreaming of a facility like the Oval as an aspiring young speed skater in Saskatchewan, but thinking it would never become a reality.
?Back in Saskatoon, I remember seeing the models of this oval and thinking, ?That would never, ever happen,?? she said. ?And yet, it did happen. And it happened because of these ?88 games.?
Tale of two Ovals:
- In the past 25 years, a total of 287 world records have been set at Calgary?s Olympic Oval in long-track and short-track speed skating.
- Meanwhile, the Richmond Olympic Oval, built for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, is no longer used for speed skating and has been criticized by some for being a ?money pit.?
sean taylor Lisa Robin Kelly Nexus 4 Girl Meets World Jason Babin Nolan Daniels angus t. jones
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.