The Helsinki Olympic Stadium (
Finnish: Helsingin Olympiastadion;
Swedish: Helsingfors Olympiastadion), located in the
Töölö district about 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) from the centre of the
Finnish capital
Helsinki, is the largest
stadium in the country, nowadays mainly used for hosting sports events and big concerts. The stadium is best known for being the centre of activities in the
1952 Summer Olympics. During those games, it hosted
athletics,
equestrian show jumping, and the
football finals.
The stadium reopened in August 2020 after 4 years of renovation.[2]
History
The Olympic Stadium was designed by the architects
Yrjö Lindegren and
Toivo Jäntti. The Olympic stadium, known as an icon of
functionalist style of architecture, was featured in the Architectural Digest as one of the best examples of Olympic architecture.[3] Yrjö Lindgren later became himself an Olympic medallist when he received the gold medal for architecture at the
1948 Olympics in
London.[4]
Construction of the Olympic Stadium began in 1934 and it was completed in 1938, with the intent to host the
1940 Summer Olympics, which were moved from
Tokyo to Helsinki before being cancelled due to
World War II. It hosted the 1952 Summer Olympics over a decade later instead. The stadium was also to be the main venue for the cancelled
1943 Workers' Summer Olympiad.
The stadium was completely modernized in 1990–1994 and also renovated just before the 2005 World Championships in Athletics.[citation needed]
In 2006, an American TV series, The Amazing Race 10, had one of its episodes ending at The Olympic Stadium Tower. As a task, teams had to do a face-first rappel (known as the Angel Dive) down the Helsinki Olympic Tower.
Since March 2007, a
Eurasian eagle-owl has been spotted living in and around the stadium. On June 6, 2007, during a
Euro 2008 qualifying match, the owl delayed play by ten minutes after perching on a goalpost. The owl was later christened Bubi and was named as Helsinki's Resident of the Year.[citation needed]
The 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Olympic Games hosted in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium was the main motif for one of the first Finnish euro silver commemorative coins, the
50th anniversary of the Helsinki Olympic Games commemorative coin, minted in 2002. On the reverse, a view of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium can be seen. On the right, the 500 markka commemorative coin minted in 1952 celebrating the occasion is depicted.
There were plans to host the 2021
Superpesis finals at the Olympic Stadium, but opposition from the clubs about preferring best-of-5 finals instead of a single match, worries about the playing surface (Playing on natural grass and running track surface, in a sport that prefer artificial grass and sand), and scheduling conflicts,[5] led the plan to be called off.
Features
The stadium's spectator capacity was at its maximum during the 1952 Summer Olympics with over 70,000 spectator places. Nowadays the stadium has 36,251 spectator places. During concerts, depending on the size of the stage, the capacity is 45,000–50,000.
A
youth hostel is located within the Stadium complex.
Recent
Major renovation work at the stadium started in the spring of 2016. During renovation all the spectator stands were covered with canopies and the field area and the tracks were renewed. The stadium now also offers extended restaurant areas and more indoor sport venues.[6] The renovation was completed and the stadium was open to the public in September 2020.
The projected cost of the renovation was expected to consume €197 million in 2016, €261 million in 2019 and ended up at a price of €337 million, which is €140 million (or 70 percent) more than the original projected cost. The Finnish state and the City of Helsinki are the funders of the renovation.[2][7]