After eight months of construction and fund raising the Utah Olympic Park is ready to unveil the renovated and expanded training pool.
The old training pool and ramps were made of wood, and built more than 20 years ago before the 2002 Olympic Games. Sandy Chio is the marketing director for the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. She says the new structure is bigger and better in almost every way.
“If you can picture a one million gallon pool, and then big ol’ steel structures with seven ramps that have what we call a snow surface on each ramp, which is what each athlete is sliding on," she says. "Is it fair to say it’s almost like a giant slipping slide?”
The training pool and ramps are one of the most heavily used facilities of Utah’s Olympic Legacy Foundation venues. They allow skiers and snowboarders to be able to train year round. The seven ramps are designed specifically to help train for aerials, moguls, and even big air.
“There was quite a bit of momentum in getting this built now. Because this means the elite level athletes are going to have three full seasons before they compete in the next Winter Games. And for USSA it is very important that their athletes have the state of the art facility.”
The project cost about $3 million dollars with a third of it coming from a donation by the Spencer F. and Cleone P. Eccles Family Foundation. The park will be holding a grand opening celebration and performance Saturday night starting at 7:30 p.m.