More than 200 Olympians have converged in Montreal to help inaugurate a new Canada Olympic House on Rene Levesque Blvd.
While the first two floors of the building will serve as the new headquarters of the Canadian Olympic Committee, the site will also house a virtual museum as soon as next year, complete with 10 hands-on sports stations.
Over 100 new employees will be hired to work in sports development.
The big opening has given many of the visiting Olympians a chance to reflect on what the games mean to them.
“The Olympics are kind of a nebulous thing, a spirit and a mindset,” said gold-medal winning Canadian swimmer Mark Tewksbury. “To have an actual physical space, with the rings on it and a shop, I think it somehow just changes and gives it more accessibility. For sure it’s a conversation starter for kids. The most important thing, we have to get those kids involved in sports.”
Among the athletes in town is American Greg Louganis, a two-time gold medallist who is town for the first time since 1976, a trip that he has come to see in a different light in recent years.
“In 1976, I was an Olympic silver medalist, and when you go to the Olympics, you go to win, you don’t go to take second,” he said. “It took me many years to realize what an incredible accomplishment that was at such a young age.”
Louganis and Nadia Comaneci were the youngest competitors at the Montreal Games. As the first female gymnast to earn a perfect 10 in an Olympic event, she inspired a generation of athletes—an impact difficult to fathom for many Olympians, including Canadian Elizabeth Manley.
“It’s been 27 years since Calgary, but I can still walk down a street and people will go and stop me,” she said. “It still amazes me the impact I had on a country, that any of the athletes here had on a country. It gives you goosebumps.”
