The Olympic Park (The Venues)

The night before Opening Ceremonies I had worked until 10:00am, and walked home through the Olympic Park.  This was probably the last time that the park would not be filled with people, and it was a nice sunny day, plus I had John (one of my Comms colleagues - Tony calls us "Commsrades") to walk home with and show me the way.  It was a great opportunity to take some photos...

 

My first glimpse of the mountains!

After leaving the IBC and walking in to the park, I got my first real good look at the mountains in the distance.  Most days it has been too cloudy to see that far, but today was sunny and clear, and beautiful!

Adler Arena - the long track speed skating Oval

The Coastal Cluster contains six venues arranged in a circle with a diameter of about 1.2km and with the Olympic Torch in the centre.  It is the most compact Olympic Games ever, with the remaining Mountain Cluster venues only 40 minutes away by bus.

The Ice Cube - venue for Curling

Of the 6 coastal venues, only 3 are permanent structures that will remain after the games are done.  The Ice Cube (curling) venue is one of the temporary structures.  These venues will be taken down and moved to be re-used in other parts of Russia (probably with fewer seats installed).

The Bolshoy Ice Dome - venue for Hockey

The Bolshoy Ice Dome is a permanent facility that will be used for Hockey during the Olympics, and that will be used after the games as "an ultra-modern, world-class multi-purpose sports and entertainment centre".

The Olympic Rings!

Had to stop and take a photo of the Olympic Ring structure, especially with the Bolshoy Rings visible in the background!

The Shayba Arena - venue for Hockey

The Shayba Arena will also be used for hockey during the Olympics but is another of the temporary venues that will be re-located after the games.

The Olympic Torch!

The Olympic Torch structure looks kind of like a space ship. Unfortunately, this is one of the few places in the entire park where there is some grass instead of concrete (and of course, you can't walk on it).  There are fences everywhere, and I am sure they are necessary for crowd control and access control, but they are ugly (Beijing's Olympic Park was similar).

The Iceberg Skating Palace - Figure Skating and Short Track

I certainly plan to get closer and get a better look at (hopefully from inside!) the Iceberg Skating Palace where both Figure Skating and Short Track Speed Skating will be held.  This is the last of the temporary venues.

Fisht Olympic Stadium - Opening Ceremonies

 

Finally, the Fisht Olympic Stadium, which seats 40,000, is the location for the Opening Ceremonies (and Closing too, I'm sure).  You will have seen a lot of this venue last night on TV.  This is a permanent venue that will be used as a football (soccer) stadium by the Russian national team, and for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

 

I lit the torch with the Sun!

 

As we walked through the park, I saw an opportunity to make it look like the Torch was already lit by the sun, so I thought I'd try to get a shot of it.  I think it turned out OK.

 

With stopping to take photos, it took a little over an hour to walk home.  We were within the secure zone for almost the entire walk (only the last 10 minutes before we entered the hotel complex, which really isn't that secure anyway, although it is fenced).

 

I arrived home a little after 11am, slept, then got up at 5:30pm to head back in for Opening Ceremonies.  All these days with 6 hours of sleep are going to catch up with me at some point!

 

More from the Olympic Park in another post!