An iconic structure from the 1988 Winter Olympic Games was designated as a historic resource by Heritage Calgary at its Report to the Community on Monday.
The 90-metre ski jump at WinSport will become the 1,000th site in the city to receive the designation from Heritage Calgary, marking a significant milestone for preserving Calgary's Olympic legacy.
Historic Significance of the Ski Jump
Also known as the XV Winter Olympics 90m ski jump, it is located in Canada Olympic Park, which has been called the Canadian Winter Sport Institute since 2009. The ski jump holds heritage value as an important piece of the 15th Winter Olympics, hosted in Calgary.
It is a highly visible and core piece of infrastructure from a defining moment in Calgary's history that really put it on the map, said WinSport CEO Barry Heck.
Design and Construction
The ski jump was designed by Calgary architect JH Cook and constructed in 1986. Measuring 58 metres tall, it is located on the Paskapoo Slopes that overlook the Trans-Canada Highway. The "90 metres" represents the distance from the take-off point of the ramp to where the hill or landing slope flattens out.
Challenges and Notable Moments
“It had its challenges which were well documented because of the wind and what have you, and lots of famous stories out of that led by Eddie the Eagle, of course,” Heck said. “After the (Olympic) Games, it remained a training and competition site for several years. The big jump, however, was not used very long.”
Decline and Closure of Ski Jumps
Between 2004 and 2005 was the last time the 90m jump was used, since it became obsolete in design and the way the sport evolved. A small group of ski jumpers and Nordic communities combined to try to keep the remaining jumps open up until 2010, when new facilities were built in Whistler.
There was a recognition that Calgary's jumps were obsolete, expensive to operate for a very small but passionate group of athletes, and Canada as a whole couldn't support two facilities, some said.
“Plans were made to decommission them and we were originally going to stop in 2014, (but) the community came to WinSport and asked to please keep them open for at least another four years to get us through the 2018 Olympics,” Heck said. “So we agreed to do that, and shortly after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, we permanently closed the jumps.”
Although the jumps were being used at the time, they required substantial safety improvements that would have cost millions of dollars. Operating costs depended on the year and ranged anywhere from $300,000 to $600,000 a year, Heck said.
Future of the 90m Ski Jump
Since then, the future of the other jumps at WinSport remains in the air, but Heck said the 90m jump is here to stay. “No one's using them anymore, so we still have to go in them for maintenance and what have you, but we preserve them to keep them safe,” Heck said. “When the time comes that there's a reason to take them down, then we'll consider it at that time. But no, our intent on the 90m is we're hoping it'll always be there.”
