The Olympic Park today


Its Olympic heritage

Inherited from the games of the XXI Olympiad, the Olympic Park is made up of the Stadium, the Montréal Tower, the Sports Centre, the fields and the outside grounds. The Olympic Installations Board is responsible for developing the sporting, commercial, cultural, recreational and tourist potential of these unique heritage installations.

Some 400,000 cubic metres of concrete were used to build the Olympic Park, which is the equivalent of a 1-metre-wide by 15-centimetre-deep sidewalk from Montréal to Calgary, Canada’s 2 Olympic cities.

Since its inauguration, the Olympic Park has seen some 100 million people attend its events and activities.

The former Velodrome, transformed into the Biodôme, has been managed by the City of Montréal since 1992. The Olympic Village was sold to private interests in 1998.

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The Olympic Stadium

Commissioned by Mayor Jean Drapeau and designed by architect Roger Taillibert, this vast concrete sculpture comprises 12,000 pre-fabricated pieces, most of which weigh several tons. Approximately 71,500 cubic metres of concrete were poured for these pieces, and 1,000 kilometres of post-tensioning cable were used. Over 10,000 people worked to build the Stadium for the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Stadium is an integral part of Montréal’s modern heritage. It is a one-of-a-kind monument and world-renowned architectural masterpiece, and for many people around the globe, the Stadium is also a symbol for the city of Montréal. Everyone has their own words to describe the Stadium, but all agree that it is impressive and grandiose. Evoking giant hands with curved fingers, the 34 cantilever panels, to which 4 truncated panels were added at the base of the Tower, determine the overall shape and size of the structure. They support the technical ring, the roof and the electronic display boards.

The technical ring can be compared to a two-storey house; the second storey contains the ventilation equipment, and the first storey holds the Stadium’s lighting, made up of 1,146 lights-2,000 watts each.

With more than 56,000 seats, the Stadium is an ideal place for large cultural, sporting and commercial gatherings. That is why we have presented highly diversified, world-class events, and why we have had world-renowned personalities perform.

A true chameleon, the Stadium can be transformed to fit the various events that are held here: trade fairs, sporting matches, motorized sports, live shows, exhibitions, film shoots, balls, social activities and more. Since it opened, Montréal’s Olympic Stadium has been one of the busiest covered stadiums in the world.

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The Sports Centre: recreation and entertainment for both young and old

Just after the 1976 Olympic Games, the Olympic Park Sports Centre opened its doors to the public and athletes of all levels.

The Sports Centre has seven pools, a widely equipped fitness centre and a multi-sport room. It offers, among other things, swimming lessons and a unique open swim schedule.

In addition, the competition and diving pools have continued to accommodate athletes in training, numerous competitions and Olympic trials for the Seoul, Barcelona, Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Summer Games.

The competition pool measures 50 by 25 metres. It is deemed the fastest in the world thanks to a system of gutters that decreases water movement.

The Sports Centre also has a 50-metre training pool, a warm-up pool, a diving pool, the only inside underwater diving pool in America (15 metres deep) and a wading pool that was used for the podium during the Olympic Games. At least four times a day, the water filtration system regenerates 9.1 million litres of water in the aquatic complex.

Host, since 2006, to the Québec’s aquatic training centre (CESAQ)—an assistance program for high performance athletes, established by the National Multisport Centre – Montréal (NMC-M)—the Olympic Park’s Sports Centre is now equipped with a new pool intended for synchronized swimming and water polo activities. This is the only facility of its kind in Canada that meets international standards. A strength training room has been built for athletes in the two disciplines. As well, the diving facilities have been upgraded to meet international standards, in particular to accommodate synchronized diving. A dryland training area for acrobatics has also been set up nearby. With these additions to existing equipment, the Sports Centre now houses some of the most comprehensive and modern aquatic facilities in Canada.

In addition to the infrastructures and services offered to the athletes, at the Sports Centre people of all ages can practice the following aquatic activities: open swim, swimming lessons, aqua babies (an aquatic program for children 3 to 5 years old), aqua fitness cardio-vascular training, diving lessons, underwater diving courses, supervised aquatic training, monitor and lifeguard training, private courses and swim club.

The Sports Centre also offers fitness activities, such as aerobics, badminton, weight lifting, prenatal activities, “Recre-Form” training for seniors and physical evaluations.

There is a sports medicine centre nearby where several services are available, including medical consultations, sports physiotherapy, massage therapy and more.

The Sports Centre’s youth program features sports days for elementary and high school students during the school year. Since 1978, the program has included swimming, ball games, introduction to mountain climbing and outdoor activities.

The Sports Centre also manages a football training field used by the Montréal Alouettes.

All the pools and sports areas are under the constant supervision of certified lifeguards and monitors who have been accredited by well-known organizations.

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The Montréal Tower: a breathtaking view of the entire area

An integral part of the Stadium, the Montréal Tower is the highest inclined tower in the world, with a 165-metre elevation and a 45-degree angle. The Tower of Pisa, by comparison, only has a 5-degree incline. The first 92 metres of the Montréal Tower are made of concrete, and the rest is made of steel.

The steel caissons, of varying shapes and sizes, were made in Rimouski by Marine Industries. On November 16 and 17, 1986, the coffered ceiling of the niche was hoisted. The lifting of this piece took over 40 hours. The Montréal Tower has a mass of 166,000 metric tons-the equivalent of 3 aircraft carriers. The Tower reached its final elevation in 1987.

You may ask yourself how a building as inclined as the Montréal Tower does not topple. The answer to this enigma lies in the relationship between masses. The upper part of the Tower represents a mass of 8,000 tons that is permanently and immutably joined to the concrete infrastructure.

This infrastructure reaches down a dozen metres below ground level and has a mass of 145,000 tons. It serves as the Tower’s point of gravity at the heart of the enormous tripod.

The top 3 floors of the Tower are occupied by the Observatory, a cocktail room and a reception hall called the Salon Montréal. You enter the Observatory and Salon Montréal by a 2-level glass funicular that can accommodate 76 passengers at a time.

In high season, the funicular makes approximately 100 return trips each day. It glides up the back of the Tower on 266 metres of rail. The cables measure 600 metres, and the funicular travels more than 2 metres per second.

The trip takes approximately 2 minutes. This funicular is the only one in the world that works on a curbed structure; a hydraulic system allows the cabin to remain horizontal at all times.

The Montréal Tower was opened to the public in November 1987. Since its inauguration, over 4 million people have come to enjoy the view from the Observatory-a panorama that stretches 80 kilometres in clear weather. It is given 3 stars (the highest rating) by the Michelin Guide.

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A popular tourist attraction

Guided tours of the Stadium and Sports Centre were introduced in 1977, just after the Olympic Games. They have attracted some 3 million people, mainly tourists who are impressed by the beauty and size of the Olympic Park.

Since 1976, the Olympic Park, Biodôme, Botanical Garden, Insectarium and Maisonneuve Park have been among the most visited sites in Montréal. The Michelin Guide also gave this area 3 stars.

The Olympic Park is easily accessible from the Viau and Pie-IX metro stations. It also features the largest indoor parking lot in Canada, with more than 4,000 spots.

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The art of organizing a spectator event at the Stadium

Hosting some 60,000 people in the Stadium stands for a sporting or cultural event is a bit like receiving the entire population of a city the size of St. Jérôme. Everything has to be completely ready to welcome such a large crowd and ensure they enjoy a great experience, from the moment they arrive at the Stadium to the moment they leave. Holding a big event at the Stadium doesn’t happen by magic. Indeed, it’s an art—the art of knowing and of know-how!

Meticulous planning… long before the event happens

Each spectator event requires thousands of hours of work that is “invisible” to the public. First, we have to carefully plan how the event will run based on the needs indicated by the promoter. Our sales and logistics teams, in particular, play an essential role in translating the promoter’s needs into a logistics scenario that will ensure the event goes off without a hitch.

The specialists from our technical services also make a crucial contribution. All the equipment needed for the event must be ready to go. For instance, the event could call for artificial turf, locker rooms for sports teams, set components, dressing rooms and the use of the audio/video control room. Furthermore, all the areas used by the general public must be functional, clean and safe.

During the event… up to 1,400 employees on duty

Hosting a large spectator event is a logistical exercise that demands an extraordinary degree of synchronization among some 1,400 people in our team and from our service suppliers’ staff. Imagine a giant jigsaw puzzle, where each piece plays a specific role and must fit in the right place at the right time. Several hundred people perform different jobs, including security guards, ticket clerks, ushers, access control clerks, staff uniforms and equipment clerks, cashiers at the ticket booth and in the parking lots, parking attendants, box hostesses, nurses and supervisors. We also have to ensure the air quality is good, the ambient temperature is appropriate, the giant screens are in good working order, the general lighting is operating as planned, and the power and drinking water supplies are up and running, among other things. This means we need technicians, plumbers, electricians, engineers and others on site. Hundreds of employees at the food concessions prepare and sell tens of thousands of beverages and snacks. Also, the maintenance teams are on duty all-event long.

After the event, the big clean-up… then onto the next!

Once all the spectators have left the Stadium perimeter, we have to take down all the components that were used for the event, collect tonnes of recyclable materials and clean the stands, washrooms and other indoor and outdoor public areas. At the same time, we have to prepare the Main Room for the next event. More often than not, set-up for a new event follows swiftly on the heels of the previous event’s take-down, and transformation of the room must begin immediately. In fact, take-down and set-up take place day and night. And while all this is going on, administrative tasks such as accounting need to be done promptly.

Thousands of person-hours of work

A spectator event that lasts a few hours and draws a crowd of about 60,000 people requires weeks of preparation. Before, during and after the event, some 15,200 person-hours of work are put in, both by our employees and those of our service suppliers. One could fly from Montréal to Paris 2,338 times in the same number of hours.

Furthermore, most large venues in Montréal would need more than 20 days to take in the 60,000 spectators that come to the Stadium in a single day! The Olympic Stadium is the only place in Québec capable of staging extremely large-scale indoor events. Our Main Room can accommodate over 60,000 spectators at once. The maximum capacity of the next biggest room in Montréal is 22,000 people.

We derive great satisfaction from knowing that an event, from the time the first spectator arrives to the time the last one leaves, appears to unfold effortlessly despite the very real challenges involved. All that “invisible” work that takes place behind the scenes has just one goal: to satisfy the promoter and, of course, all the people attending the event.

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Major events held at the Olympic Park since 1976


Amateur sports

  • 1976 Summer Olympic Games
  • XXII World Inline Skating Championships
  • Athletics World Cup
  • Paris Saint-Germain – Canada soccer game
  • World Junior Speed Skating Championships
  • France – Canada soccer game
  • Olympic Park Cup in cycling
  • College football Eastern final and championships
  • Training for the French swim team for 2 consecutive years
  • World Junior Female Handball Championships
  • Cycling competitions every Sunday afternoon from December to mid-February
  • Cycling endurance trials, including the Québec 3-day, North American 6-day and Montréal 6-hour, at the Velodrome
  • XXIII World Gymnastics Championships
  • Canadian Swimming Championships
  • Esso Provincial Cup in swimming
  • Swimming qualifying rounds for the Seoul, Barcelona, Sydney  and Beijing Olympic Games
  • U-20 FIFA World Cup 
  • Synchronized swimming qualifying rounds for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
  • Canada Cup – FINA Diving Grand Prix (2007 and 2008)
  • World Master Swimmers Championships, the most important swimming competition after the Olympic Games
  • Junior water polo competitions
  • Diving competitions

Professional sports

  • Football (regular games, Eastern final and Grey Cup)
  • Baseball
  • Cycling
  • Soccer
  • Motocross (Montréal’s Supermotocross)

Shows and exhibitionss

  • The Motorcycle Show
  • The Women’s Show
  • The International Agriculture and Food Fair
  • The International Prêt-à-porter Show
  • The Recreational Vehicle Show
  • The Indoor Flower Show
  • The Vacation-Travel Show
  • Circus Vegas
  • The National Home Show
  • The Wine and Spirits Show
  • The International Youth Show
  • The National Wedding Show
  • The Education, Science and Technology Show
  • The International Boat Show
  • The Sports Experts Show
  • The International Car Show
  • The Animal World Cup
  • The Electronic Highway Show
  • The Collectors’ Show
  • The National Outdoors Show
  • The 35th Trade World Cup
  • The Pet Show
  • The Compact Sports Car Performance Show
  • The International Recreational Vehicle Show
  • The Cottage & Country Homes Show
  • The City and Suburb Home Show

Trade fairs

  • Salon de la machinerie agricole
  • Salon International Décors et Tendances
  • Expo Grands Travaux – Équipements lourds
  • Salon CAM-Logique

Musical events

  • Montréal Symphony Orchestra
  • Verdi’s Aïda and Puccini’s Turandot
  • Pink Floyd
  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer
  • The Police
  • Diane Dufresne
  • Michael Jackson
  • David Bowie
  • U2
  • George Michael
  • Genesis (1992 & 2007)
  • Guns ‘N’ Roses and Metallica
  • New Kids on the Block
  • Madonna
  • Rolling Stones
  • AC/DC

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