The Whistler Sliding Center – an Overview
The Whistler Sliding Center will be one of the notable venues for Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. Located on the Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler, British Columbia, 125 km north of Vancouver, The Whistler Sliding Center has been earmarked for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competition in 2010 Winter Olympics. Not only as the games venue, The Whistler Sliding Center will play a pivotal role in the joy and entertainment of the local residents, visitors and the athletes as well.
The Construction
After the selection of Vancouver as the host of 2010 Winter Olympics, Stantec Architecture Limited was chosen as the architect of the venue in 2004. Finally the construction started in June 2005 after the approval from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. A core group of 60 workers were always involved in the construction work of this $ 104.9 million project, About 500 workers worked at a time during the peak hours in the 2006 summer to speed up the construction work. The basic construction work of The Whistler Sliding Center was completed in November 2007, and the formal opening is slated to take place in 2008.
The Infrastructure
The Whistler Sliding Center will have a capacity of 11,650 seats during the 2010 Winter Games. The 1,450 meter track inside the venue has been made of 350 metric tons of reinforced concrete. In order to set the track on its proper foundation, 350 track footings were used. There are also a control tower, administration buildings, and refrigeration facilities inside it. The ice thickness has been maintained between 2 to 5 cm by hand. The Whistler Sliding Center also boasts of modern day’s technology with the use of 36 on-track video cameras and 42 “timing eyes”.
Events
The Whistler Sliding Center will host competitions in bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton. The athletes from all over the world will compete for a total number of 8 Olympic medals over the 13 days of sliding competition in this 2010 Winter Olympics venue. There will be events of two-man, four-man and women’s bobsleigh. The luge has three events, viz. men’s singles, women’s singles, and doubles. The venue will also host men’s and women’s skeleton.
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