Olympic Park, Olympic park in Montréal, Canada
Olympic Park (Parc olympique de Montréal) is a sports and entertainment precinct in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood of Montréal, Quebec. It is bounded by Sherbrooke Street to the north, Viau Street to the east, Pierre de Coubertin Avenue to the south and Pie-IX Boulevard to the west. The site holds the Olympic Stadium, the Montreal Tower, the Olympic Pool, the Maurice Richard Arena, the Centre Pierre Charbonneau, the Biodôme, the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, Saputo Stadium and a multiplex cinema.
The site was built in the early 1970s on land that had been part of a golf course, to host the 1976 Summer Olympics. After the Games ended, the facilities were gradually converted for public use, and new venues like the Biodôme and the planetarium were added over the following decades.
The stadium's nickname "The Big O" comes from both its name and the doughnut shape of the permanent part of its roof. In October 2017, the area once called "Place des Vainqueurs" was renamed Place Nadia Comaneci for the Romanian gymnast. The park's first non-sporting events were concerts by Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Pink Floyd in summer 1977.
The park is served by the Pie-IX and Viau metro stations on the green line, whose extension through the park opened in June 1976. The Esplanade west of the stadium sits above the Pie-IX parking sector and was built on four levels for spectator flow. The Olympic Pool opened to the public in January 1977 and hosts the Institut national du sport du Québec and amateur swimming clubs.
The velodrome that hosted track cycling and judo in 1976 kept its wooden track until 1989, when it was demolished despite attempts by the Quebec cycling federation to keep it; the Biodôme opened in the building in 1992. The Montreal Tower was only 72 metres tall during the Games and was completed in 1987, with its top section built from steel caissons rather than concrete.
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