Oval Construction

Explore 37 Years of Excellence

Since September 27, 1987

50 Years of Excellence at UCalgary

Our Legacy, Our Future

The Olympic Oval is a legacy facility of the 1988 Olympic Games. It is a place where Olympic dreams come true and athletes are put in a position to achieve their personal best. An important and integral part of the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Kinesiology; the Oval is a speed-skating facility, a research facility for UCalgary kinesiology scholars, a training facility for varsity athletes and a public facility to serve the University community. 

Our Mission

The Olympic Oval is a world-class speed skating and high performance sports facility dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and health and wellness for all.

Our Vision

Together with our partners, we will drive the mission of Canadian athlete podium performances.

Our Values

Passion, Quality, Honesty, Respect, and Enjoyment. These are the values that represent our team of people and on which The Fastest Ice in the World™ is built.

Canada's Medal Factory

From the establishment of the Olympic Oval in ’88, UCalgary has long been the incubator of elite sport in Calgary. Champions Catriona Le May Doan, Hayley Wickenheiser, and Denny Morrison have all honed their competitive edge here.

The Fastest Ice in the World

With 26 Olympic medalists, 36 Olympic medals, hundreds of Olympians and over 300 World Records, the Oval still holds onto its trademark — The Fastest Ice in the World™.

Artist's Concept
Model
Construction
Construction 1986

High Performance Sports at the Olympic Oval

The Olympic Oval was built for the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games. However, it's more than just a Speed Skating venue — it is also a high-performance training facility for Dinos athletics and non-varsity high-performance sport. 

Long Track Speed Skating

Long track speed skating is considered the fastest human-powered sport in the sport, with skaters reaching speeds of more than 60 km/hr. All long track speed skating events take place on a 400m oval and are timed to the hundredth of a second (0.01).

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Short Track Speed Skating

Short track speed skating takes place on a 111.12m oval which is marked on an international-sized ice rink. The smaller oval means there are tighter turns and shorter straightaways than in long track. There are nine events on the Olympic program.

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Dinos Women's Athletics

Basketball
Field Hockey
Golf
Hockey
Soccer
Swimming
Track & Field
Volleyball
Wrestling

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Dinos' Men's Athletics

Basketball
Football
Golf
Hockey
Rugby
Soccer
Swimming
Track & Field
Volleyball
Wrestling

Learn more

36 Olympic Medals and Counting

The Olympic Oval is Canada's Medal Factory. It is the training home to 26 Olympic Medalists (21 Long Track and 5 Short Track) with a combined take-home of 36 Olympic medals since Calgary's 1988 Winter Olympic Games. No other facility in Canada has this Olympic reputation for high-performance excellence. Athletes qualify for such distinction after training at the Olympic Oval for over one year.

Medal  Year Olympic City Athlete (in Bold) Sport Medal Event
1 1994 Lillehammer,
Norway

Susan Auch

 Long Track Silver Women's 500m
2 1998 Nagano,
Japan

Derrick Campbell,
Eric Bedard,
François Drolet, and
Marc Gagnon

 Short Track Gold Men's 5,000m Relay
3 1998 Nagano,
Japan

Catriona Le May Doan

 Long Track Gold

Women’s 500m
4 1998 Nagano,
Japan

Jeremy Wotherspoon

 Long Track Silver

Men’s 500m
5 1998 Nagano,
Japan

Susan Auch

 Long Track Silver

Women’s 500m
6 1998 Nagano,
Japan

Tania Vicent,
Christine Boudrias,
Isabelle Charest, and
Annie Perreault

 Short Track Bronze

Women’s 3,000m
Relay
7 1998 Nagano,
Japan

Catriona Le May Doan

 Long Track Bronze

Women’s 1,000m
8 1998 Nagano,
Japan

Kevin Overland

 Long Track Bronze

Men’s 500m
9 2002

Salt Lake City,
USA

Catriona Le May Doan

 Long Track Gold Women's 500m
10 2002

Salt Lake City,
USA

Tania Vicent,
Alana Kraus,
Isabelle Charest,
Marie-Eve Drolet, and
Amelie Goulet-Nadon

 Short Track Bronze

Women’s 3,000m
Relay
11 2002

Salt Lake City,
USA

Cindy Klassen

 Long Track Bronze Women's 3,000m
12 2002

Salt Lake City,
USA

Clara Hughes

 Long Track Bronze Women's 5,000m
13 2006

Torino,
Italy

Cindy Klassen

 Long Track Gold

Women’s 1,500m
14 2006 Torino,
Italy

Clara Hughes

 Long Track Gold

Women’s 5,000m
15 2006 Torino,
Italy

Arne Dankers,
Steven Elm,
Denny Morrison,
Jason Parker, and
Justin Warsylewicz

 Long Track Silver

Men’s Team Pursuit
16 2006 Torino,
​​​​​​​Italy

Kristina Groves,
Clara Hughes,
Cindy Klasen,
Christine Nesbitt, and
Shannon Rempel

 Long Track Silver

Women’s Team
Pursuit
17 2006 Torino,
​​​​​​​Italy

Cindy Klassen

 Long Track Silver

Women’s 1,000m
18 2006 Torino,
​​​​​​​Italy

Alanna Kraus,
Tania Vicent,
Amanda Overland,
Anouk Leblanc-
Boucher, and 
Kalyna Roberge

 Short Track Silver

Women’s 3,000m
Relay
19 2006 Torino,
​​​​​​​Italy

Kristina Groves

 Long Track Silver

Women’s 1,500m
20 2006 Torino,
​​​​​​​Italy

Cindy Klassen

 Long Track Bronze

Women’s 3,000m
21 2006 Torino,
​​​​​​​Italy

Cindy Klassen

 Long Track
​​		 Bronze

Women’s 5,000m
22 2010 Vancouver,
Canada		 Christine Nesbitt Long Track
​​​​​		 Gold

Women’s 1,000m
23 2010 Vancouver,
​​​​​​​Canada

Mathieu Giroux,
Lucas Makowsky, and 
Denny Morrison

 Long Track
​​​​​		 Gold

Men’s Team Pursuit
24 2010 Vancouver,
​​​​​​​Canada

Kristina Groves

 Long Track
​​​​​​		 Silver

Women’s 1,500m
25 2010 Vancouver,
​​​​​​​Canada

Jessica Gregg,
Tania Vicent,
Kalyna Roberge, and 
Marianna St-Gelais

 Short Track Silver

Women’s 3,000m
​​​​​​​Relay
26 2010 Vancouver,
​​​​​​​Canada

Kristina Groves

 Long Track
​​​​​​		 Bronze

Women’s 3,000m
27 2010 Vancouver,
​​​​​​​Canada

Clara Hughes

 Long Track Bronze

Women’s 5,000m
28 2014 Sochi,
Russia

Denny Morrison

 Long Track
​​​​​​		 Silver

Men’s 1,000m
29 2014 Sochi,
Russia

Denny Morrison

 Long Track
​​​​​​		 Bronze

Men’s 1,500m
30 2018 Pyeongchang,
South Korea

Ted-Jan Bloeman

 Long Track
​​​​​​		 Gold

Men’s 10,000m
31 2018 Pyeongchang,
​​​​​​​South Korea

Ted-Jan Bloeman

 Long Track
​​​​​​		 Silver

Men’s 5,000m
32 2022 Beijing,
China

Ivanie Blondin,
Valerie Maltais, and 
Isabelle Weidemann

 Long Track
​​​​		 Gold

Women’s Team
Pursuit
33 2022 Beijing,
​​​​​​​China

Isabelle Weidemann

 Long Track
​​​​​​		 Silver

Women’s 5,000m
34 2022 Beijing,
​​​​​​​China

Isabelle Weidemann

 Long Track
​​​​​​		 Bronze

Women’s 3,000m
35 2022 Beijing,
​​​​​​​China		 Laurent Dubreuil Long Track
​​​​​​		 Silver Men's 1,000m
36 2022 Beijing,
​​​​​​​China		 Ivanie Blondin Long Track
​​​​​​		 Silver Women's Mass Start

 

Numbers

The Olympic Oval has a rich history of record breaking numbers. See why the Oval continues to generate new personal bests with the stats below.

550,000

Over 550,000 come and go through the Olympic Oval every year. That's over 14 million people since opening our doors in 1987.

40,000

Over 40,000 skaters and runners enjoy the Olympic Oval as a destination space for recreational public skating and running — that's just over 1.3 million people in 35 years. 

30,000

Every year, over 30,000 people enjoy major events including World Cups, speed skating competitions, national sporting events, trade shows, car shows, science fairs and expos. 

The average stay is 2.2 nights and the average spend is $368 per day. The total economic impact is over $21.8 million.

40

Over 40 commercials, films and television shoots have been filmed at the Oval.

The Olympic Oval is widely known as The Fastest Ice in the World. We have a friendly rivalry with the Utah Olympic Oval — The Fastest Ice on Earth. World records are repeatedly broken at both locations.

37 Years of Fun Facts

The Olympic Oval is rich with history and fun facts. See how many you know!

  • On September 30, 1981, Calgary won the Olympic Winter Games bid (also bidding in 1964, 1968 and 1972).
     
  • Former Dean of Kinesiology Roger Jackson pushed the idea to have the Oval on the UCalgary campus instead of Canada Olympic Park (formerly Paskapoo).
     
  • The Oval cost $35 million to build and was the first covered speed skating facility in North America.
     
  • The Oval opened its doors on September 27, 1987.
  • The 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games were held February 13-28, 1988.
  • The Olympic Oval hosted nine speed skating events.
  • No Canadians won any speed skating medals at these Games.
  • Hidy and Howdy were the official Olympic mascots, but Ollie the Penguin became the Oval's mascot in 1989. 
Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games Results
  • The Oval is 150,000 square feet in size.
  • The Oval is 85' high x 774' wide.
  • The Olympic Oval has 2,500 permanent and 1,400 temporary spectator seats.
  • The Oval can seat 3,500 guests with permanent and portable seating.
  • The ice is -5°C or -6°C on a given day.
  • The Oval ice depth is 1.0" thick.
  • The hockey and short track ice is 1.25" thick.
  • The large Zamboni uses 400 Gallons of water for every re-surfacing.
  • The small Zamboni uses 160 Gallons of water for every re-surfacing.
  • The Oval uses 4,300 gallons of water to re-surface all three rinks at the Oval.
  • Over 500,000 entries every year.
  • Nearly 40,000 public skaters enjoy the Oval every year.
  • Nearly 800 Varsity athletes train at the Oval every year. 
  • The Olympic Oval has two Olympic-sized rinks (for hockey and short track speed skating) and a 400m Oval rink for long track speed skating.
     
  • In addition to speed skating and hockey rinks, the Oval has a 450-metre, two-lane running track and a 110-metre, eight-lane sprint track.
     
  • The Oval has eight change rooms, a weight room, a skate shop, and rehabilitation and therapy rooms.
  • Every year during Ice-Out (April — June), the Oval hosts major sporting events, including; Volleyball, Judo, Taekwondo, Billiards, Track & Field, Wrestling, and Gymnastics.
  • The Oval is also host to numerous car shows, trade shows, science fairs and exhibitions.
  • The Oval is also a top filming location in Calgary, with over 40 film and television credits to call our own.
  • The Oval has produced 26-speed skating Olympic medalists with a combined take-home of 36 Olympic medals. No other facility in Canada has such an incredible Olympic reputation garnering the moniker Canada's Medal Factory.
  • The Oval has produced over 300 World Records and currently owns three of them with six Junior World Records. Currently, the Utah Olympic Oval (The Fastest Ice on Earth) holds the most. Both Ovals have had a friendly rivalry for the last 20 years. 
  • Over the last 35 years, the Oval has employed hundreds of staff and enjoyed thousands of volunteers to ensure our speed skating competitions run without a hitch. 
  • The Oval's was trademarked The Fastest Ice in the World in 2001.

The Legacy of the Olympics

The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. To spread these principles is to build up a strong and more valiant and, above all, more scrupulous and more generous humanity.

Pierre de Coubertin

Founder of the modern Olympic Games