The Olympic Village Goes Condo

From Sydney Olympi...

While Sydney returned to post-New Year's normalcy, I decided to take a trip down memory lane. I actually knew better than to try to relive the experiences from my two months spent in Sydney during the 2000 Olympic Games. But, I was curious to see what had become of the place, after billions of dollars were spent constructing it, now that the attentions of the world had long since focused elsewhere.

Exiting the train station, as I'd done a few hundreds times before, I was happy to find the Olympic Park similar to the way I've recalled it over the last six years. Unlike perhaps any other host city, Sydney chose to build the majority of it's sporting facilities for the games in one massive complex. The impressive facility boasts no less than a dozen world class facilities including the Olympic stadium, a full tennis complex, two indoor arenas, a baseball stadium and an aquatic complex. That's not including the equally massive athlete village next door complete with its own athlete only shopping center and cafeteria.

The facilities continue to be used heavily for international and national events which seems to bode well for the complex as the many facilities continue to live up to their Olympic pedigree. Likewise, the grounds have maintained their immaculate landscaping which continues to enhance the venue. Anyone visiting the Olympic Park today can still get a sense of what it was like to attend the games there. That's helped by a few new installations found around the complex that attempt to recreate portions of the Olympic experience. Although I did find one of those installations a bit ironic. The former Olympic cauldron that held the Olympic flame high above the stadium has been removed from it's lofty perch and converted into, of all things, a water fountain in a park across from the stadium.

Otherwise, I was pleased to find that my memory had not failed me over the years and many of the details were as I remembered them. Although, that doesn't mean I remembered everything. Walking through the tennis center, I suddenly realized that I'd watched Monica Seles cruise through a quarter final match on her way to a bronze medal, something I'd long since forgotten. I'd also forgotten just how large the area is despite the tightly packed facilities. It took me nearly half an hour just to walk from one end to the other despite the opposite end looking like it was just a few minutes walk the entire time.

But, my visit to the athlete village provided the most interesting discovery. It seems the Olympic Village has gone condo. The village was made up of hundreds of small homes and apartments spread out like a subdivision. Each house, as I found out through personal inspection, sheltered about ten athletes in two or three rooms making for pleasant although slightly cramped quarters. The individual apartments were provided to the top tier athletes to provide a little more space and privacy. I was under the impression that the village was going to be converted to low income housing post-games. But, it's gone in the decidedly opposite direction.

The apartments are now condos with security gates, manicured parks and designer furniture. The homes now house upper middle class families of four with a couple new cars in each drive way and a brand new paint job on every house. While I was there in 2000, IBM hosted an internet Surf Shack for the athlete's in the village, which I staffed from time to time (my main assignment was at a city facility downtown). But, my search for the former surf shack location ended in the produce section of the supermarket that now occupies that space, next to a Blockbuster and Krispy Kreme.

While I was pleased to find that the site of the 'best games ever' hasn't lost much of it's Olympic glory, it was lacking one thing. It was a few million people short of recreating the energy that pulsated throughout the area and the city over a half decade ago. For that, I'll just have to rely on my memories.

OLYMPIC PARK PHOTOS: http://picasaweb.google.com/gscottie/SydneyOlympicPark07