Calgary 1988: Olympic venues overview
Ten competition venues were used for the Olympic Winter Games Calgary 1988. Seven of them are still in use today, benefitting the local population and high-performance athletes alike. Three of the competition venues were existing sites. The rest were built for the Games and have helped make Calgary a thriving hub of recreational and elite sport.
Canada Olympic Park (COP) is the home of the ski jumps, sliding track and freestyle slopes used for the Games. The COP has since diversified to become a year-round venue. It continues to serve Canada’s elite athletes, as well as the local community and tourists, welcoming more than 1.2 million visitors annually.
The freestyle slopes are now used for Alpine skiing and snowboarding. After 30 years of use, the ski jumps and the sliding track have been closed and are being dismantled. The area will be repurposed for other activities.
The Olympic Oval is another iconic Calgary 1988 venue. Still an international speed skating facility today, it serves the local community and plays a leading role in grassroots development. It also provides the University of Calgary with a first-rate research and training facility.
Created specially for the Games, the Nakiska Ski Area is now a busy mountain resort and the closest one to Calgary. Its facilities include more than 25 slopes, six lifts, restaurants, hotels, shops and a snow sports school.
The Olympic Village was made up of existing university campus accommodation, complemented by two new halls of residence, which are still in use today. This model was employed at subsequent editions of the Games.
The McMahon Stadium was built in 1960 and hosted the Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Today, the venue is the home of the Calgary Stampeders and the Calgary Dinos, respectively the city’s and the university’s Canadian football teams.