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Utah Olympic Oval: A smashing finish
Early woes erased by fast ice, speed records
By Stephen Speckman
Deseret News staff writer
KEARNS — Call it a gift to speedskaters everywhere.
It's from the folks who have brought them what most long-track skaters would call the world's fastest ice, known everywhere as the world's highest indoor 400-meter speedskating oval.
The present — the Utah Olympic Oval.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee's $30 million world-record-making machine is all wrapped up in 1,900 tons of steel, but skaters will have to wait until February to open this Olympic treat.
Well, OK, some have peeked already.
Inside this bizarre-looking package — it looks a little like a huge cargo ship, docked in the middle of suburbia — are seven world records in five separate distances, set at both the World Single Distance Championships in March and at the Essent World Cup earlier this month.
CBS sports commentator and five-time Olympic gold medalist Bonnie Blair said back in March, "It's better than Calgary."
"(The oval) is built with the athlete in mind," U.S. Speedskating's Casey FitzRandolph said. He trains in Calgary.
"I love how this place is open and bright," teammate Joey Cheek said.
"It needs some color though," U.S. skater Annie Driscoll said. The oval will get a healthy dose of color by February for the "look" of the Games.
"As long as we have a roof over our heads, I don't care," said Canadian skater Catriona Le May Doan, who currently holds a world record, broken recently in Calgary, in the 500 meters. She's also developed a habit of winning medals in Kearns, too.
If results match expectations, records will crumble in even greater numbers when skaters tear into the near-perfect, icy oval slab, housed inside its maritime shell.
A bumpy road
It hasn't all been smooth sailing for the oval.
There was a time when Utah Olympic Oval director Nick Thometz was losing sleep, rattled by construction delays and a lack of one essential ingredient for hosting a competition — ice.
A partial roof collapse in April 2000 put the project behind four months.
Then the concrete slab that makes up the 400-meter track had to be ripped out and replaced because portions of the 33 miles of embedded refrigeration tubes had shifted.
There were questions whether the oval would be ready to host the World Single Distance Championships in March and talk that the event would have to be held at the country's only other indoor oval in Wisconsin.
After finally getting skaters on ice just one month before the building hosted its first competition, concern circulated that construction dust in the air was making the ice seem slow.
Five world records were broken in March, though, and two more were set this month.
The only known complaint made during the Essent World Cup was that there was a "horrible" food smell inside the building — but that came from German skater Sabine Voelker, who broke a world record in the ladies' 1,000 meters.
Maybe Voelker would prefer the smell of bratwurst and sauerkraut over hot dogs and popcorn?
Thometz said the menu will probably change for the Olympics and that his crew will try to contain any other food odors.
"I think we're there," said Thometz, a three-time speedskating Olympian in the 500 and 1,000.
With the exception of a few minor glitches, he's helped put together what he hopes is the world's fastest "facility" in the world.
High and fast
When SLOC set out to build an ice oval for the Olympics, planners knew it would take more than the thin air of a higher altitude location in Kearns to create the world's fastest ice.
The Utah Olympic Oval is the world's highest indoor 400-meter ice track at 4,675 feet above sea level.
The altitude was a gimme. Less air to push through, faster times.
It was up to SLOC to come up with a system to create great ice. To that end, $50,000 was spent this fall to replace an existing deionizing system with a better one that takes out impurities and particles in the water used to make the ice.
They needed the temperature inside the building to be just right. By design, a comparatively low roof was built to make it easier to maintain a constant temperature, which is also good for the ice.
Humidity is a "huge" factor in speedskating, according to building operations manager Marc Norman.
So, SLOC installed an advanced dehumidification system to help protect the quality of ice. Cost: around $300,000.
A filtering system also helps to make the air nearly perfect, except, of course, for the occasional whiff of junk food.
For Thometz, his proudest moment came when skaters first took to the ice, telling him, "This feels pretty darn good."
It even feels a little better when skaters fall and smash into the padded perimeter. Thometz made sure the walls were higher than in other facilities to prevent skaters from going airborne in a bad crash.
About the only thing that could make Thometz feel better at this point — besides hosting the Olympics — would be if this facility will pay for itself after the Games.
The legacy
Most, if not all, indoor ovals are either subsidized by an outside agency or they regularly lose money. They simply cost too much to run.
SLOC, however, didn't set out to build a huge indoor ice oval with equally gargantuan overhead costs.
In Kearns, they cut back on the roof and scaled down the size of the building, which both help save on heating and cooling costs. Benches in the locker rooms are made of concrete, nothing fancy.
Then there's the ceiling.
"You've got the tin-foil look up there," Thometz said. Very industrial.
The annual cost to run the facility will be about $2 million.
The Utah Athletic Foundation will take over the oval after the Olympics. And it's counting on steady revenues from the public to stay in the black or, at least, out of debt.
"We're confident we can have it be a break-even property," said Foundation chairman Randy Dryer.
The foundation will offer ice time for figure skating and hockey on two rinks inside the oval. "There's a huge demand for hockey," Dryer said.
Curling and skating lessons will be available. Not to mention, the building will continue to host U.S. Speedskating and international athletes in training throughout the year.
The oval will also be available to rent for parties and hockey leagues. There may be links to Utah's universities and colleges to create additional interest and revenue.
The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital, called TOSH, may also soon be considering the lease of space for a medical clinic at the oval. And corporate sponsors for leagues and events are being sought to help round out the revenue stream.
Already, Nike has agreed to sponsor a girls hockey league. The sports shoe giant is planning a fund-raiser for Jan. 9.
With any luck, the naming rights to the oval will attract a corporate sponsor with deep pockets. West Valley City has been unsuccessfully shopping around for a sponsor to buy the naming rights for the E Center, home of men's and women's hockey during the Olympics.
If all else fails, the Foundation can rely somewhat on interest income from an estimated $40 million legacy fund endowment from SLOC that will help fund operation costs at the oval and at Utah Olympic Park.
In the end, the Kearns facility is one that works well for the Games, Thometz said, and for the taxpayers.
"Sometimes those two don't always match," he added.
When the Games arrive in just over a month, the Utah Olympic Oval will fill with 6,500 spectators, skaters and scribes, ready to report whether the ice, or rather, the facility is indeed the fastest on the planet.
When the cheers for Olympic skaters fade in late February, the oval will simply be known as the Oquirrh Park Oval.
Not a bad deal, and one that comes with a commitment.
"I want you to be able to walk into the building 10 years from now," Norman said, "and have it look like it just opened."
We'll check back with him.
E-MAIL: sspeckman@desnews.com
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December 20, 2001
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