Stadium move erases part of city’s Olympic legacy

The Games were held as part of the World’s Fair, so events were spread out throughout Paris and there were no opening and closing ceremonies. The closest thing to a main stadium was the Vélodrome de Vincennes, which hosted cycling, cricket, rugby union, football and gymnastics. Track and field was held at Racing Club de France. The Vélodrome de Vincennes is still used for cycling, football and rugby matches.

1904 – St. Louis, United States — Francis Field

These were the first Games in the United States. Francis Field is now the main stadium for Washington University of St. Louis, which uses it for track and field, cross country, football, and soccer.

1908 – London, England — White City Stadium.

Just outside of London, White City Stadium was specifically built for the games and held 68,000 people. Unlike subsequent Olympics, many of the Games’ events were held there including wrestling and gymnastics. Swimming and Diving? Yes. A pool and diving platform were constructed in the infield. The stadium was demolished in 1985 to make way for BBC White City.

1912 – Stockholm, Sweden — Stockholms Olympiastadion

Seating only 14,000, it is one of the smallest stadiums ever used in a Summer Olympic Games. The stadium is still used for sporting events and concerts. Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson and Kiss have played there multiple times.

1920 — Antwerp, Belgium — Olympisch Stadion (Antwerp)

It is currently used as the home ground of K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot, a Belgian football club.

1924 – Paris, France — Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir

The Racing Metro 92 rugby club uses the stadium as a home field.

1928 – Amsterdam, Netherlands — Olympisch Stadion

In 1987 the city government announced plans to demolish the stadium. But it was saved when it was listed as a national monument. The stadium will host the 2016 European Athletics Championships.

1932 & 1984 – Los Angeles, United States — Memorial Coliseum

Built specifically to host the 1932 Games, it is now the primary home of the University of Southern California’s football team. UCLA, as well as the L.A. Rams and L.A. Raiders also called the stadium home. When the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, they initially played at the Coliseum. One of the best examples of how an Olympic Stadium has been repurposed.

1936 – Berlin — Olympic Stadium (Berlin)

The site of one of the most indelible political moments in history, as Hitler presided over the Games dominated by America’s black athletes, including Jesse Owens. After World War II, it was one of the few buildings in Berlin that survived bombings. The stadium has been used for American-style football and soccer.

1948 – London, England — Wembley Stadium

Originally built in 1923, the old Wembley hosted a number of major events after the 1948 Games, including sporting events and concerts including 1985’s Live Aid. The stadium was demolished in 2003 and replaced by a new Wembley Stadium, which hosted the 2012 Games.

1952 – Helsinki, Finland — Helsinki Olympic Stadium

Now mainly used for hosting sports events and big concerts.

1956 — Melbourne, Australia — Melbourne Cricket Ground

The 10th-largest stadium in the world is the home of the Melbourne Cricket Club. It also holds the record for having the highest light towers at any sports site.

1960 – Rome, Italy — Stadio Olimpico

Remains the main and largest sports facility of Rome.

1964 – Tokyo — National Olympic Stadium (Tokyo)

Currently, Japan’s national soccer team plays there. Originally built in 1958, the stadium will undergo a $1 billion upgrade and full-scale reconstruction in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Olympics.

1968 – Mexico City, Mexico — Estadio Olímpico Universitario

The stadium where John Carlos and Tommy Smith gave their Black Power salute is still used and serves as the home for several major soccer teams.

1972 — Munich, Germany — Olympic Stadium (Munich)

The stadium is still used for soccer.

1976 – Montreal, Canada — Olympic Stadium (Montreal)

Nicknamed “The Big O.” As the games began, rising costs and construction mismanagement forced an opening of a stadium that wasn’t actually finished, earning it a second nickname, “The Big Owe.” Subsequently fires, a collapsed roof and falling concrete only added to the problems. After the games, the Montreal Expos moved in. And like the Braves would do, the Expos abandoned the stadium in 2004, moving to Washington, D.C. to become the Nationals. With no permanent resident, the stadium has become what no Olympic city wants, a white elephant. The tower incorporated into the base of the stadium, called the Montreal Tower, is the tallest inclined tower in the world at 574 feet.

1980 – Moscow, Russia — Central Lenin Stadium

The largest stadium in Russia, it is still used for soccer and is one of the few major European stadiums to use artificial turf. Grass fields can’t withstand the harsh Russian winters.

1988 – Seoul, South Korea — Seoul Olympic Stadium

The stadium opened in 1984 to host the Asian Games in 1986 and the Olympic Games in 1988. But since then, the stadium has not hosted any major world sporting events. It currently has no occupant and is not being used.

1992 – Barcelona, Spain — Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys

Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition and a 1936 Olympic bid, it was renovated in 1989 to be the main stadium for the 1992 Games. The Stadium has held concerts, American football games and soccer.

1996 — Atlanta, United States — Olympic Stadium/Turner Field

2000 — Sydney, Australia — Stadium Australia

Originally seating 110,000 people, it was the largest Olympic Stadium ever built. Currently, the New South Wales rugby league team’s home games are played there.

2004 –Athens, Greece — Olympic Stadium (Athens)

The stadium was completed in 1982 and renovated in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The Stadium still hosts sports and concerts

2008 – Beijing, China — Beijing National Stadium

Considered by many observers the most architecturally pleasing Olympic stadium ever built, the design was born out of a study of Chinese ceramics. It implemented steel beams to hide the supports for the retractable roof, which gives the stadium the appearance of what has become it’s nickname – “The Bird’s Nest.” But since the Games, the stadium has had trouble attracting events and basically sits empty, with paint peeling. To help pay the bills, between 20,000 and 30,000 people visit daily, paying roughly $8.23 for admission.

2012 — London, England — Olympic Stadium (London)

On most days, while she is training a group she hopes will be the next batch of Olympic athletes, Kim Batten can look over her shoulder and show them a bit of inspiration.

“A lot of times I can look over there and say, ‘That is where my Olympic journey started,’ ” said Batten, pointing to Turner Field. “This is where I did it.”

Several times a week, Batten trains young athletes in the shadow of Turner Field, which for 16 days in the summer of 1996 was Centennial Olympic Stadium. Batten won her Olympic medal, silver in the 400 meter hurdles, there.

“To hear that they are going to tear it down is very disheartening,” Batten said. “I would love to see it stay as a memory of what we did there.”

With the Atlanta Braves set to move to Cobb County after the 2016 season, the stadium will be empty. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said it will likely to be torn down to make way for development.

It would only be the third Olympic stadium torn down since the modern summer Games began in 1896. The others were both in London: White City Stadium, which hosted the 1908 Olympics, and the original Wembley Stadium, which hosted the games in 1948.

“The International Olympic Committee is concerned that cities don’t recognize the historical significance of hosting the Games,” said John MacAloon, a professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago. Centennial Olympic Stadium “was not an architectural wonder and it was not integrated well with the city. A Birds Nest, it wasn’t. But it was perfectly functional.”

But Mike Plant, the Atlanta Braves executive vice president of business operations, who helped engineer the move to Cobb County, said the memory of the Olympic Games should not be reduced just a building.

“The Games are not about bricks and mortar,” Plant said. “When you talk about Bonnie Blair, Dan Jansen or my wife (Mary T. Meagher, who won three swimming gold medals in 1984 in Los Angeles), you never mention the facility. There was never a game plan that this facility was going to have a lasting physical legacy.”

Plant speaks from experience. The Braves executive is an Olympic mainstay as a member of the 1980 Olympic speed skating team and current interim president of the U.S. Speed Skating Federation. He has also worked on several sporting bodies, including the IOC, U.S. Olympic Committee and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, which has taken him to 18 Olympics.

It could be argued that even in its relatively short post-Olympic life, the former Centennial Olympic Stadium has been wildly successful. Nearly 40,000 seats were taken out, and it was refurbished and redubbed Turner Field. The Braves moved in for the 1997 season and began an unprecedented run of success, hosting countless playoff games, the 1999 World Series and the 2000 Major League All-Star Game.

“I have to be really honest. My memories are not of that 16-day event. They are of all the years we played baseball here. We’ve had 20 good years out of a facility built for 16 days,” Plant said. “Most of the cities are starting to recognize the challenges and trying to figure out what you are going to do with a stadium after the Games are over. No one wants a mausoleum.”

The conditions and uses of former Olympic facilities across the globe have been varied. Most stadiums have been repurposed to host smaller crowds, for local soccer and rugby matches, as well as occasional track meets or concerts.

Francis Field in St. Louis, which hosted the 1904 Games, the first in the United States, is now the quaint home of the Washington University of St. Louis sports teams.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which hosted the Games in 1932 and 1984, has remained one of America’s top sporting facilities, serving as the home of the University of Southern California’s football team, which regularly attracts 94,000 fans.

But stadiums in Barcelona, Sydney and Athens have had difficulty attracting permanent tenants. Seoul, South Korea’s stadium is not being used at all.

In Montreal, “The Big O,” has been plagued with mismanagement and crumbling conditions – which factored in the Montreal Expos’ 2004 decision to leave Canada for Washington, D.C.

Even Beijing National Stadium is struggling. When it hosted the games in 2008, many considered it the greatest Olympic Stadium ever built, with its interwoven steelwork that gave its unusual appearance and nickname, “The Bird’s Nest.” Now the paint is peeling from the virtually abandoned stadium, which makes money by charging tourists $8.23 for a tour.

Japan, which will host the 2020 games, is spending $1 billion to completely renovate it the stadium used for the 1964 Games.

“Either you have a state-sponsored and run Games where money is no object, or you have a clear repurposing strategy. Either big government checks or white elephants. In that sense, Atlanta was a success,” said MacAloon, author of “This Great Symbol: Pierre de Coubertin and the Origins of the Modern Olympic Games.”

Centennial Olympic Stadium was built for $209 million with public and private money and is owned by the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority, which leased it to the Braves. Without a permanent tenant, the city and county could not afford to maintain it. The Braves have said the stadium need around $200 million in upgrades and repairs.

“This episode could influence how a U.S. city positions itself and any stadium it might build for a 2024 Olympic bid,” said Ed Hula, editor and founder of Atlanta-based Around the Rings magazine, which covers business news about the Olympics. “Some IOC members might ask, “Are you going to tear this one down too?”

The future of Olympic stadiums might rest in an idea that came out of Chicago when it bid for the 2016 Games that ultimately went to Rio de Janeiro. Chicago planned to build a $366 million, 80,000-seat temporary stadium in historic Washington Park. After the Games, the stadium would have been reduced to a 10,000-seat multi-use venue.

Even with Turner Field standing, Atlanta’s main Olympic legacy is probably about three miles away at Centennial Olympic Park, which was designed to be a gathering spot during the Games. It has continued to play that role and is becoming a centerpiece for a tourist hub that now includes the Georgia Aquarium, The World of Coca-Cola and two upcoming museums.

I am not sure the Atlanta Olympic legacy would be affected much by the loss of the stadium,” Hula said. “While it’s too bad that it goes, Centennial Olympic Park, the aquatic Center at Georgia Tech, new student housing and other projects are legacies of ‘96 which are still around.”