The Montreal Olympic Pool was constructed for the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

as part of the

Montreal Olympic Park The Olympic Park (French: ''Parc olympique'') consists of a series of venues and sports arenas in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was home to many of the venues from the 1976 Summer Olympics. It is bound by Sherbrooke Street to the north, Viau ...

. The Olympic Pool is part of the larger swimming centre, located in the base of the inclined

Montreal Tower up Montreal Tower ( French: ''La Tour de Montréal''), part of the city's Olympic Stadium (French: ''Le Stade olympique'') and Parc Olympique and formerly known as the Olympic Tower (French: ''La Tour olympique''), is the tallest inclined structu ...

. The centre has a spectator capacity of 3,012 seats. At the 1976 Olympics, the venue hosted

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

water polo Water polo is a 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 ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

, and the swimming part of the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

events. It had a capacity of 10,000 seats at the time (6,988 temporary seats were installed). The building was designed by French architect

Roger Taillibert Roger Taillibert (21 January 1926 – 3 October 2019) was a French architect, active as a designer from about 1963 to 1987. Taillibert was notable for designing the Parc des Princes in Paris and the Olympic Stadium (Montreal), Olympic Stadium ...

, who also designed the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

and

Olympic Village An Olympic Village is an accommodation center built for the Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials and athletic trainers. Afte ...

. The structure, along with the accompanying

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...

, inspired Taillibert's later designs for

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

's National Sports and Culture Centre. Outside of the actual aquatic complex, inside the tower, a small museum exists, commemorating the 1976 Games as well as Games past, with posters and displays in French and English. The pool was used as a filming venue for the Olympic-themed film ''

Nadia, Butterfly ''Nadia, Butterfly'' is a 2020 Canadian sports drama film, directed by Pascal Plante and released in 2020. The film stars Katerine Savard as Nadia, an Olympic swimmer struggling to redefine her life after retiring from the sport at the conclus ...

''.Olivier Paradis-Lemieux
"Nadia, butterfly : quand le sport olympique fait son cinéma"

Ici Radio-Canada ICI or Ici may refer to: Companies and organisations * ICI Homes, builder, Florida. US * Former UK Imperial Chemical Industries ** ICI Australia, later Orica * Independent Curators International, New York City, US * Indian Concrete Institute * I ...

Sports, August 26, 2019.

References

1976 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2. pp. 66–75. *''Parc Olympique.'' 1992. Les Messageries de presse Benjamin Inc. .

External links

Official site
{{coord, 45, 33, 34, N, 73, 33, 7, W, type:landmark, display=title Venues of the 1976 Summer Olympics Sports venues in Montreal Swimming venues in Quebec Olympic diving venues Olympic modern pentathlon venues Olympic swimming venues Olympic water polo venues Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Sports venues completed in 1976