Piscine-patinoire olympique de Reims (English: Reims Olympic Pool and Ice Rink), also known as Piscine-patinoire Bocquaine after the street it was built on, and Nautilud for the swimming pool part, was a sports complex located in Reims, Marne,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Building

The three-level building consisted of a swimming pool and an ice rink, overlooked by a panoramic restaurant with a view of the ice and the pool on each side (the latter was phased out in the 1990s).

Ice rink

Bocquaine

Ice Rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

served as the home of Reims'

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

teams, the Flammes Bleues and later the

Phénix Phénix (French for phoenix) was a small-scale (gross 264/net 233 MWe) prototype fast breeder reactor, located at the Marcoule nuclear site, near Orange, France. It was a pool-type liquid-metal fast breeder reactor cooled with liquid sodium. I ...

. Some promoters, including Gérard Drouot who hailed from Reims, have also used it as a live music venue.

Aquatic center

The aquatic center housed the city's only 50-metre pool, as well as a smaller teaching pool. In the 1980s, a toboggan—86-metre long as of its dismantlement—was added to the building. It was the home pool for Reims Natation 89, a

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

team that sporadically featured in the Pro A league.

History

The building was approved by the City Council of Reims in 1963. It was designed by the Paris-based team of Jean-Claude Dondel and Roger Dhuit, in cooperation with Jacques Herbé, member of a prominent family of local architects. The complex had two inauguration ceremonies : one for local dignitaries in October 1967, attended by swimmer Alain Gottvallès, and one in early December 1967, in presence of Minister of Sports François Missoffe. In 1998, Bocquaine underwent extensive renovations, which included the installation of an

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

. In 2013, the venue had to close immediately after an inspection found advanced signs of decay on its wooden framework. As another renovation was neither technically nor economically viable, it was torn down in the fall of 2014. In this absence of an adequate pool, Reims Natation 89 opted for voluntary relegation to the second tier of French water polo at the end of the 2013–14 season.

Events

Sports

The rink hosted the French Figure Skating championships in 1975, 1980 and 1991, as well as the French Ice Dancing Championships in 1972 when they were still a standalone event. It also hosted the French Short Track Speed Skating Championships in 2003, 2006 and 2009.

Concerts

Acts that featured at the ice rink include

Ange Ange (English: Angel) is a French progressive rock band formed in September 1969 by the Décamps brothers, Francis (keyboards) and Christian (vocals, accordion, acoustic guitar and keyboards). Since its inception the band's music has been insp ...

Magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

and Barclay James Harvest.

References

External links

Le Nautilud at ReimsAvant
(in French) {{coord missing, France Indoor arenas in France Ice hockey venues in France Buildings and structures in Reims Sports venues in Marne (department) Demolished buildings and structures in France Sports venues demolished in 2014