Winter Olympic venues upgrade all the way
At present, the "Meet in Beijing" series of winter sports events are successively launched in the three major competition areas of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
8 competition venues will be "tested" during this test match.
In the previous Olympic Games, the construction of venues has attracted much attention.
Because of the ice and snow events, the Olympic venues have higher requirements than ordinary venues.
From the early outdoor natural venues to be plagued by bad weather, to the later sports venues that made artificial ice and snow to make athletes' performance by leaps and bounds, from the luxury venues that continued to expand in scale and improved technology content, to the ecological green natural wind, the Winter Olympics venues With the imprints of different times, it has become the landmark of many host cities, leaving a period of classic memories.
The National Speed Skating Hall of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics venue adopts the most advanced ice-making technology, and at the same time strives to create the "fastest ice" while being environmentally friendly.
The speed skating venue "Gangneung Oval" for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
During the construction of the venues for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the impact on the natural ecology was minimized.
In the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, the speed skating competition has been moved indoors.
The ice skating hall looks like an upside-down pirate ship, which is very distinctive.
In order to welcome the 1964 Winter Olympics, Innsbruck built an ice stadium with the latest technology and equipment and a new ski jumping platform.
In 1924, Chamonix, France, the first Winter Olympics, the British curling team was playing in a natural field.
On November 2, 2017, "Beijing Daily" reported on the 8th page that various projects for the Beijing Winter Olympics had been fully started.
Beijing Winter Olympics National Ski Jumping Center "Snow Ruyi" (Aerial photography in December 2020).
On May 1, 2021, "Beijing Daily" reported on the 5th page that the National Speed Skating Hall, the landmark of the Beijing Winter Olympics, completed the first full-ice ice making the day before.
On July 31, 2019, "Beijing Daily" reported on the 8th page that the construction of the convertible structure of the Water Cube Ice Rink was completed.
Bad weather in the open air often interferes with the game
In the early exploration stage of the establishment of the Winter Olympics, most of the games were held in outdoor venues, relying on natural snow and freezing. Therefore, the climate is the most critical factor for the smooth holding of the Winter Olympics.
The first Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, a small town in France in 1924.
At that time, the host only built a new ice rink for skating and ice hockey competitions, and other events used the original natural venues.
One month before the Winter Olympics, a heavy snowfall made the ice skating rink up to one meter thick; the previous week, God changed his face, and the ice rink turned into a pool under the wind and rain. Fortunately, a cold current arrived in time and the meeting was able to go smoothly. Held.
Since then, the climatic conditions of the host city have become the primary concern of the Winter Olympics.
The second Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1928 was still plagued by weather.
The climate in this small town under the Alps was originally mild and stable, but during the Winter Olympics, the weather was very abnormal. It was either that there was a heavy rain for 18 hours a day, which melted the snow on the competition venue, or the temperature was still below zero in the morning, but it rose to the point in the afternoon. At 25°C, many competitions were forced to be suspended or cancelled.
The weather in Lake Placid, USA, where the Third Winter Olympics is held, is even more speechless.
It originally won the bidding competition with more stable climatic conditions, but when the Winter Olympics was about to open, there was an unexpected high temperature-the temperature in January 1932 was an observation record of the US Meteorological Department. The year with the highest temperature during the same period in annual history.
Ten days before the opening ceremony, athletes have arrived one after another, and the mountains on the Lake Placid plateau are still not covered by snow.
A huge "snow transportation project" has begun-using snowboards to fetch snow from higher mountain areas, and then transport them by train, which is extremely difficult.
However, due to the disturbance of the irregular weather, there were still 4 ski events postponed, and all the competitions did not end until two days after the closing ceremony.
Science and technology help artificial ice making and snowmaking rescue field
After the Second World War, the world structure showed a stable and peaceful state. The ice and snow sports ushered in an opportunity for development. More and more cities were bidding for the Winter Olympics. Successful bidders increased their investment in the construction of the Winter Olympics venues. There is a trend towards technology and large-scale venues.
The seventh Winter Olympics in 1956 was selected in the small Italian town of Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Cortina d’Ampezzo used the city’s efforts to rebuild and build a number of high-level ice and snow facilities.
Among them, the Olympic skating rink, which is used for figure skating and ice hockey competitions, has a 4-story grandstand that can accommodate 12,000 spectators.
The newly built ski jumping platform was praised by athletes as one of the best jumping platforms in the world after the game.
In 1960, Squaw Valley of the United States successfully hosted the 8th Winter Olympics.
When this small mountain town submitted its bid to the International Olympic Committee, it had no sports facilities and venues for the competition.
They spend a lot of money on the construction of competition venues.
In addition to the Nordic two, the other competition venues are built in the center of Squaw Valley, including a gymnasium, three outdoor skating rinks, an oval 400-meter speed skating track, and a ski jumping area.
However, as only 9 countries sent teams to participate in the sled race, the organizers decided to cancel the project and not build a sled field.
As a result, the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics became the only Winter Olympics in history without a sled race.
This Winter Olympics also used artificial ice making technology for the first time. A freezing plant provided ice for the skating hall and maintained the ice surface.
In the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, artificial snowmaking was used again.
Innsbruck, which was originally a ski resort, suffered its worst snow shortage in 88 years before the Winter Olympics.
A large-scale "Foolish Father Moves Snow" operation was launched.
The Austrian government sent troops to carry snow down the Alps.
The total amount of snow transported down the mountain was about 20,000 trucks, creating a track for snowmobile and sled racing, and another 40,000 cubic meters of snow was paved to the alpine skiing field.
The organizing committee also prepared 20,000 cubic meters of snow for emergencies, and specially transported 6 snow machines from the United States to stand by at the competition venue.
An even more dramatic scene happened. On the tenth day before the opening, a heavy rain fell suddenly and melted all the snow and ice.
The army can only clean up the damaged track one by one, and artificially make snow to save the field.
Entering rooms on ice creates a classic arena
With Samaranch taking the chairmanship of the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic movement began a comprehensive reform and innovation. The construction of the Winter Olympics venues also broke the inherent concept of not allowing commercialization, and carried out a variety of commercial developments, while paying more attention to architectural aesthetics and regional aesthetics. , A number of classic venues were born.
Calgary, the "Cowboy Town" of Canada, finally won the right to host the 1988 Winter Olympics in the third bid after returning home twice.
Calgary has built a large number of modern sports facilities for this purpose.
The Calgary Saddle Stadium uses a hyperbolic parabolic roof, like a saddle, which is completely different from the local traditional western style of uninhibited and high-rise roofs.
According to the engineer, this design can reduce the internal space of the building by nearly half, greatly reducing heating and lighting costs.
Moreover, this clear-span roof does not require pillar support inside the building, so there is no line of sight between the 19,300 seats in the hall and the playing field.
Calgary made a historic change to the Winter Olympics, which was followed by most of the Winter Olympics held thereafter-all ice events were moved indoors, of which the Olympic Oval is the first in the world to have 400 A fully enclosed stadium with a meter speed skating track; a computer-controlled artificial snowmaking machine is also used here, and the alpine skiing competition is conducted on the artificial snowmaking field.
Such a measure successfully solved the trouble of unstable ice and snow in the competition venue due to weather, and helped improve sports performance.
In 10 speed skating competitions, 82 people broke 9 Olympic records and world records 148 times.
Samaranch, then president of the International Olympic Committee, recalled that when he arrived in Calgary on the first day, the temperature was minus 27°C, but later in the game, the temperature quickly rose to minus 15°C.
The difference is more than 40 degrees Celsius!
"In the giant slalom, only the slide is white, while the rest is green. Many spectators who attended the game took off their shirts. This is really peculiar for the Winter Olympics."
The indoor skating hall of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway is also very distinctive.
Its appearance resembles an inverted pirate ship. The keel is 104 meters long. It was the largest wooden roof in the world at that time. It echoed the Viking marine civilization and has now become its city symbol and cultural heritage.
The ice pouring is from the very clean groundwater of Lake Miyosa, which is 100 meters deep. Therefore, the ice quality is excellent. The white and bright ice surface provides good conditions for athletes to create excellent results.
Focus on ecological and environmental protection and change location to avoid goshawks
With the continuous expansion of the construction scale of the Winter Olympic Games venues, a great burden has been added to the host country and the ecological environment.
After entering the 21st century, the construction of the Winter Olympics venues has opened a stage of scientific and rational development, and low energy consumption, zero pollution, and sustainable development have gradually become the theme of the times.
The 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, was praised by Samaranch as a "Green Ice and Snow Olympics".
Many venues and facilities were rebuilt and newly built in Lillehammer.
All competition venues are designed and constructed in accordance with the principles of ecological landscape: the ice hockey hall cleverly utilizes the terrain and is excavated on the cliffs of the mountains; the opening ceremony is held on the slopes of the Olympic Park where the jumpers can land.
This open-air stadium is completely built in accordance with the natural form, fully embodying the harmonious coexistence of architecture and nature.
Among the 21 environmental protection programs in Lillehammer, one is dedicated to the protection of Hamar birds.
The speed skating and figure skating venue for the Winter Olympics was built in Hamar, and a bird habitat and breeding ground nearby is a national bird sanctuary.
The organizing committee deliberately built an "ecological wall" between the gymnasium and the bird sanctuary to protect the birds' living environment from interference.
In the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics in Japan, the biathlon competition was originally scheduled to be held in Hakuba Village. Afterwards, it was discovered that there were goshawks and other birds of prey. In order not to disturb the habitat of these birds, the venue was changed to Nozawa in northern Nagano Prefecture. Hot spring village.
During the construction of the site, the original cross-country skiing site was fully utilized, tree felling was reduced to a minimum, and the removed topsoil was moved back to the original place after the ski trail was built.
The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea also minimized the damage to the natural ecological environment by the venues. For example, the Jeongseon Alpine Ski Center realized for the first time the male and female slides, designed a circuitous track, and saved 25 hectares of forest, which is the first in the history of the Winter Olympics. example.
100% green energy makes history in Beijing Winter Olympics
14 kilometers to the north of Tiananmen Square, the "Ice Ribbon" of the National Speed Skating Center circulates; Zhangjiakou's Chongli Mountains are endless, and the National Ski Jumping Center "Xue Ruyi" dominates the peaks.
At the end of last year, 12 competition venues in the three major competition areas of the Beijing Winter Olympics were completed as scheduled.
Through the construction of the world’s first 500 kV Zhangbei flexible DC power grid project, the Beijing Winter Olympics innovatively introduced the abundant green and clean electricity in the Zhangbei area into Beijing, making the Beijing Winter Olympics the first 100% green in the history of the Olympics Clean energy for the Winter Olympics.
The "Ice Ribbon" is a landmark venue for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the only newly-built ice competition venue for the Beijing Winter Olympics. It has the largest all-ice design in Asia and covers an area of 12,000 square meters.
Creating the "fastest ice" is one of the important goals that the "Ice Ribbon" expects to achieve.
The pavilion adopts a carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling ice-making system. This ice-making technology is one of the most advanced, environmentally-friendly and efficient ice-making technologies for winter sports venues.
In addition to being environmentally friendly, another advantage is to ensure a uniform ice surface temperature, which provides an important guarantee for athletes to create good results.
By the Shougang Qunming Lake, the big ski jumping platform backed by a huge cooling tower stands majestically. The century-old steel "Dream Factory" has become a model of urban renewal; the former "Water Cube" turned "Ice Cube", and the "Double Olympic Stadium" contributed water and ice. Converting the "Chinese Plan", the National Stadium, Wukesong Sports Center, and Capital Gymnasium also have the ability to convert both winter and summer venues.
At Xiaohaituo Mountain in Yanqing Division, the National Alpine Ski Center track descends from the top of the mountain, and the National Snowmobile sled center at the foot of the mountain is like a giant dragon lying around.
In the Zhangjiakou competition area, China’s first ski jumping venue that meets international standards is like a Chinese "Ruyi". The National Cross-Country Ski Center, the National Biathlon Center, and the Yunding Ski Park are scattered all around.
More than three months later, the Beijing Winter Olympics is about to open. We look forward to the "Ice Ribbon" welcoming guests with radiant smiles and "Snow Ruyi" waiting for athletes.
Beijing welcomes you!
Text of this edition: Hou Shasha
Reference materials: "1924-2014 Ice and Snow Olympic City", "Flying Silver Light", "Winter Olympic Journey", "Winter Olympic Movement (1924-2002)", "Olympic Progress-From Athens to Athens", "Winter Olympic Stadium" The Evolution and Transmutation of Construction Ideas" "The Construction Method of the Calgary Saddle Gymnasium-1988 Winter Olympic Indoor Gymnasium" Beijing News Group Graphic Database
Courtesy of the School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Sport University