A flurry of construction has been going on in Sochi, Russia, in preparation for this month's 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The all-new Sochi Olympic Park, constructed along the Black Sea coast, will welcome athletes and spectators to the Maly Ice Palace, Olympic Oval, Sochi Olympic Skating Centre, Olympic Curling Centre, Central Stadium and Main Olympic Village.
But developments go far beyond Olympic Park. Two Olympic villages, one at sea level and one in the mountains, have necessitated the building of new transportation infrastructure, including the country's second-largest railway station and numerous hotels. An estimated 42,000 hotel rooms -- almost as many as in Moscow -- are available for the Sochi Olympics.
The construction of major venues is par for the course once a city has been chosen to host the games, but what happens to those beautiful buildings once the crowds leave town? Meeting planners are the winners, with new venues, hotel space and infrastructure improvements making the destination more alluring to groups. Here's a sampling of past Olympic host cities and what they now offer for meetings and events.
Lake Placid, N.Y.
1932 and 1980 Winter Games
Lake Placid (above, lakeplacid.com) is one of only eight cities that have hosted the games more than once. An indoor skating arena, the Olympic Center (bit.ly/1d5TyxE) was built for the 1932 Winter Games, the first time hockey matches were played indoors. The center also hosted skating events in 1980, most memorably when the U.S. hockey team won gold in the "Miracle on Ice."
Tours of the center and the ski-jump complex are now available, while the Olympic Museum (bit.ly/1cpNQTL), inside the center, hosts groups of up to 100 among memorabilia from the two games.
The Conference Centre at Lake Placid (lakeplacid.com/meetings), offering 90,000 square feet of meeting space, opened in 2011.
Groups with golfers might hole up at the 246-room Crowne Plaza Resort & Golf Club, which features 14,200 square feet of meeting space plus the 45-hole Lake Placid Club.
Atlanta
1996 Summer Games
Travelers leaving Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport still pass a sign welcoming them to the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics. The 85,000-seat track-and-field venue built for the games, Centennial Olympic Stadium, saw Carl Lewis win his fourth consecutive long-jump gold, and Canada's Donovan Bailey set a world record in the 100 meters. After the games, the facility was transformed into Turner Field (turnerfield.com), home of baseball's Atlanta Braves. Aside from taking in a game, groups can enjoy tours of the field and the team's museum. For dining, the Braves' Chophouse seats 500.
The games' primary gathering place, the 21-acre Centennial Olympic Park (above, centennialpark.com), now welcomes outdoor events of all sizes.
With 321 guest rooms and 16,000 square feet of meeting space, Embassy Suites Atlanta at Centennial Olympic Park (bit.ly/1hcY4wb) offers a Ruth's Chris Steak House.
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Salt Lake City
2002 Winter Games
The first games held after 9/11, the 2002 Winter Olympics were known for the pairs figure-skating scandal ("The Canadians were robbed!") and the surprise win by American Sarah Hughes over heavy favorite Michelle Kwan in women's figure skating. Held in Salt Lake City and the surrounding ski resorts, these games were legendary for doing what seemed impossible: making a profit, to the tune of $40 million.
"The beauty of our Olympic infrastructure and what has made the investment pay off is that we did not have to repurpose our facilities and venues," says Scott Beck, president and CEO of Visit Salt Lake. "We actually built our facilities before we won the bid, knowing we would use them."
Utah Olympic Park (above,
utaholympiclegacy.com) in Kearns, near Park City, is a year-round training center for winter sports, and demonstrations can be part of an on-site special event. The 1,300-square-foot Legacy Center's windows and decks look out on the freestyle-skiing training pool (jumpers do their tricks in the air and land in the water); the facility holds 100 for dinner.
Team-building activities are held at the Base Camp, and group sessions can be arranged for the Extreme Zipline and the Alpine Slide. Hotels in nearby Park City include the 350-room Canyons Grand Summit Resort & Conference Center (
canyonsresort.com/grand-explore.html).
It seems like yesterday that Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings continued their gold-medal supremacy in Women's Beach Volleyball at the 2012 Summer Games, which "put London in the spotlight, strengthening its position as a global leader for meetings," says Chris F.J. Lynn, vice president, North America and emerging markets, business tourism, at London & Partners.
Venues built in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk) now are being reopened to the public, starting with the Copper Box Arena (above, bit.ly/1dgpmB5) last month. The 7,500-seat facility offers a full calendar of sports and entertainment, and welcomes groups of up to 1,200 for special events in eight breakout rooms.
The 207-room St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel (bit.ly/1kwiDIE), renovated in time for the Olympics, hosts groups in nine meeting rooms, offering a total of 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
Munich, Germany
1972 Summer Games
During the 1972 Summer Games, Olga Korbut's balancing act had the world glued to the television, along with the tragic kidnapping that ended with the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches and a German police officer. The legacy building here is Munich's Olympic Park (left, olympiapark.de/en), featuring Olympic Stadium, where visitors can do a high-wire routine of their own on the facility's roof (ropes and carabiners are provided). Small groups follow a guide up the rigging to survey the city's skyline and the majestic Bavarian Alps in the distance.
Aside from the stadium, the complex also features Olympic Hall, Small Olympic Hall, Coubertin Square, the Theatron stage (which seats 5,000 on steps and the lawn), Olympic Tower, the Event-Arena (which seats 3,800) and the Sea Life aquarium.
A block away from Olympic Park is the über-stylish Leonardo Royal Hotel Munich (bit.ly/1hyT84M), with 424 guest rooms and nine function rooms, including a ballroom for events of up to 700.
Athens, Greece
2004 Summer Games
The birthplace of Olympic competitions hosted the 100th Summer Games 10 years ago; one of the venues used was the site of competitions even in ancient times. The original Panathenaic Stadium (left, panathenaicstadium.gr) was built in 338 BC, with reconstruction of the site in marble beginning in the 1860s. The facility was chosen to host the first modern games when the concept was revived in 1896. In 2004, the men's and women's marathons finished at the stadium (the winners were Stefano Baldini of Italy and Mizuki Noguchi of Japan) and the archery competition was held there as well. Groups can combine a tour of the stadium with a gathering in its conference room, which holds 70 theater style and 80 for a reception.
Among nearby hotels is the 264-room Royal Olympic Hotel (royal-olympic-hotel.llotels.com), with 3,000 square feet of meeting space.
Vancouver
2010 Winter Games
The Vancouver Winter Olympics were particularly memorable for the host country: It was the first time Canada won any gold medal during an Olympics held in the country -- none at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, nor the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. And victory was great: Canada also won the overall medal count in 2010.
The home of the opening and closing ceremonies, the 60,000-seat BC Place (bcplacestadium.com) underwent about US$140 million in renovations for the games; the venue is a major event space in the city still, hosting sporting competitions, concerts and conventions. It also has four banquet rooms and a number of lounges and suites for all sizes of events. The Richmond Olympic Oval (above, richmondoval.ca), home of the long-track speed-skating events, was built for the games with a plan in place once the Olympic flame was extinguished. Now a training facility with two Olympic-size ice rinks and a 23,000-square-foot fitness facility, the oval offers group tours, and special events can be held in the 5,000-square-foot Legacy Suite, with views to the hockey games and other sporting competitions taking place below.
The nearby 377-room Fairmont Pacific Rim (fairmont.com/pacificrim) opened in time for the 2010 Olympic Games, with 15,000 square feet of meeting space and a 8,500-square-foot Willow Stream Spa.