August 5, 2004

Originally built on Adolf Hitler’s orders

Berlin’s Olympic Stadium reopens after four-year transformation

BERLIN

Berlin’s renovated Olympic Stadium was inaugurated this past weekend, with fireworks and an appearance by the granddaughter of 1936 Berlin Olympics legend Jesse Owens marking the transformation of the Nazi-era colossus into a modern sporting arena.

Athletes ranging from pole vaulters to soccer players symbolically took possession of the stadium, originally built on Adolf Hitler’s orders for the 1936 Games, as fireworks lit up the playing field under the building’s sleek new roof.

More than 50,000 spectators were given a filmed reminder of the limestone stadium’s history—including Owens’ performance in 1936, when the black American runner made a mockery of Hitler’s beliefs of Aryan supremacy as he won four gold medals.

A smiling Gina Hemphill, Owens’ granddaughter, held a torch aloft to help light the stadium’s flame in a historical touch underlining a renovation that has largely preserved the building’s original appearance.

“I find it fantastic,” said Germany’s interior minister, Otto Schily. “We have kept the old fabric of the building—the architects have solved that brilliantly.

“It has become a very attractive, modern, open stadium with a wonderful atmosphere.”

The stadium has been given new lighting systems and a glass-rimmed roof in the four-year refit, which cost $293 million (U.S.) and made it ready to host the final of the 2006 soccer World Cup.

“Refurbishing the old stadium was the right decision,” Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit told ZDF television. “It’s a successful combination of old and new.”

The opening ceremonies also featured appearances by Pink and German pop star Nena, while Daniel Barenboim, the director of Berlin’s Staatsoper, was conducting a Jewish- Arab young people’s orchestra.

The stadium, designed by architect Werner March, was the site of the first modern Olympic torch relay, memorialized on camera in Leni Riefenstahl’s adoration of athleticism, Olympia.

Over the decades since, it has served as the home of the Hertha Berlin soccer club and a venue for athletics events and concerts.

It opened last Saturday with the running track around the playing field painted in Hertha’s blue-andwhite colours.

Extra exit rows were added to bring the stadium into line with modern fire regulations, but its 76,000-person capacity has been maintained by sinking the field to accommodate new rows of seats.

The stadium remained in use during the renovation work.

Hertha Berlin played Turkish club Besiktas in a friendly match at the new stadium last Sunday.

In a Sept. 8 exhibition match, Germany’s national soccer team will host Brazil in a replay of the 2002 World Cup final.

The Associated press

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