Helsinki Swimming Stadium is an outdoor swimming venue in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Finland, located in the

Eläintarha Eläintarha ( sv, Djurgården) is a large park in central Helsinki, Finland. The name "eläintarha" means "zoo". The park's location acts as a divisor between the districts of Töölö to the west, and Hakaniemi and Kallio to the east. The sout ...

area to the northeast of the

Helsinki Olympic Stadium The Helsinki Olympic Stadium ( fi, Helsingin Olympiastadion; sv, Helsingfors Olympiastadion), located in the Töölö district about from the centre of the Finnish capital Helsinki, is the largest stadium in the country, nowadays mainly used ...

History

The Swimming Stadium was designed by architect Jorma Järvi in the Functionalist style prevalent during the 1930s. The stadium was built for the 1940 Olympic Games which were cancelled due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, but later hosted the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

. Because of the war, the construction of the Swimming Stadium took a long time, and it was finally completed in 1947. In wartime, the finished pools were used to store herring and root vegetables. According to the

International Swimming Federation FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

, the water temperature in the pool needs to be at least 22 °C, nowadays 27 °C. The machinery to heat the outdoor pool was ordered from abroad, and the ship transporting them was sunk immediately after the war broke out. The stadium has been listed as a significant example of modern architecture in Finland by

Docomomo Docomomo International (sometimes written as DoCoMoMo or simply Docomomo) is a non-profit organization whose full title is: International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement. ...

Current use

The Swimming Stadium is a popular recreational venue for citizens. It is open from the beginning of May to the end of September. It is a popular place and in summertime it is visited by about 5,000 swimmers every day – 290,000 altogether in summer 2013. The stadium has three pools: a 50-metre exercise swimming pool, a diving pool and a children's pool, and a small, shallow, round

wading pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as ...

for small children a little further away. The diving pool has two 1 metre and two 3 metre high

springboard A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...

s, and a 1-metre plateau in front of the diving tower. Use of the diving tower is controlled and requires lifeguard supervision. The 1 and 3 metre springboards are almost always freely usable by customers. However, for example when swimming teams or clubs come to practice at the Stadium, the 3 metre springboard may be reserved for their use. The area also has a

water slide A water slide (also referred to as a flume, or water chute) is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to s ...

, a

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...

, a

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor sur ...

, a

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

field, a

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

table and a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

. The gym is open all year round. Outside normal opening times, the Stadium is used a practicing place for other aquatic sports, for example

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 ...

schools use the diving pool as practice place. The Swimming Stadium was also the scene for filming the popular Finnish youth television show Summeri in 2003–2009 and 2011. In January 2009, the city of Helsinki initiated a discussion of keeping the Helsinki Swimming Stadium heated throughout the entire autumn and winter, in order to make it accessible for outdoor swimming during the entire year, in honour of the 90th anniversary of the Sports Bureau of Helsinki. However, this idea was abandoned as too expensive.

References

1952 Summer Olympics official report.
pp. 47–9.

External links

The swimming stadium official page
{{Olympic venues water polo Sports venues in Helsinki Swimming venues in Finland Buildings and structures in Helsinki Venues of the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic diving venues Olympic swimming venues Olympic water polo venues

History

Current use

See also

References

External links