Managing Olympic Venues

Olympic sport venues arc the stage upon which Olympic athletes perform and are a critical component for both athletes and spectators at Olympic Games, Venues built or rnodified sp('cifically to host the Olympic Games have become a focus of international media attention in the years leading up to these events for a combination of their design, aesthetic impact, construction time frames, operational logistics, cost and questions regarding longer-term usc and sustainability. Venues are sport specific, rnulti-sport and also include support venues sllch as the athlete village. The venues thal have been able to reflect the local historic cultural context and aspirations of the host nation in their design, such as Barcelona's swimming pool (Piscina Municipal de Montjui'c) with its panoramic views over Barcelona, or Beijing's 'BinI's Nest' National Stadium, have achieved iconic status and represent a strong architectural and cultural signature. This chapter begins by reviewing the history and development of Olympic Games venues and then focuses on the key contemporary issues in managing Olympic venues. In doing so, venue management considerations for bidding and host cities afe outlined. Historical documents from host cities, academic and social critiques of Olympic city venue management and other source documentation provide the basis for these discussions. The chapter first reviews the historical context of venues and Olympic cities before investigating the costs of infrastructure investment. With this background, venue life cycle and Olympic life cycle planning are examined. This is followed by an examination of iconic design that represents the best of what the host city wants to showcase to the world