Wednesday was a day of entertainment, food, and beer at the Olympic Spirit building, a facility which draws attention to the history and future of amateur sports. It is located on the east end of Dundas Square. College and university media were shown around the facility and told about new student pricing on admission and on drinks at the Podium Restaurant on the fifth floor of the building. Students from elementary school to university will pay $15 to get into Olympic Spirit Toronto instead of the regular adult admission of $18. Campus media were invited to the building to help publicize this deal.
The day included a preview of the 12-minute film entitled ‘The Calling’ that will be shown to visitors of this new facility. The movie features a wide range of competition clips of various athletes, taken from past Olympic Games.
“Because we are licensed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), we had access to thousands of hours of film,” said former Olympic rower Marnie McBean, who is now Director of Corporate & Athlete Programs at Olympic Spirit Toronto. “This film has brought athletes to tears.”
McBean is one of Canada’s most decorated athletes, having won a total of 12 medals at the Olympics and World Championships throughout her career. Six of those medals are gold, four silver, and three bronze.
Another highlight for visitors at Olympic Spirit is the vast array of artifacts on display outside the theatre. Among these are the Olympic torch from the 1988 Calgary Winter Games, a gold medal won by Frank Amyot for canoeing in 1936, three medals from swimmer Victor Davis, and a host of other priceless memorabilia that capture the history of the modern Olympic games.
Peter Doyle, chief operating officer of Olympic Spirit Toronto, shed light on some facts about the new facility: “This is a $42 million structure that we opened on September 30, so we are brand new. This is the first permanent Olympic Spirit facility in the world.”
One of the main goals of Olympic Spirit is to be as interactive as possible with visitors. This will happen two ways. The first is through having five floors filled with multi-media simulators, kiosks and videos, and the second way is to have a great amount of athlete interaction.
The company plans to bring an Olympic athlete in once a month for an interactive question and answer period with fans. For example, on October 30, from 12-2 p.m., Kyle Shewfelt, Olympic gold medalist in Athens, will be talking to visitors and answering their questions.
“These ‘ask and answer’ sessions will be very interactive,” related Doyle. “We want it to be very much like a [Muchmusic] ‘Much on Demand’ environment.”
“The IOC created an Olympic museum in Europe in 1993,” said McBean, “that has been so successful that they wanted to develop more interactive facilities around the world.”
“There are currently 41 high-performance athletes working within the facility,” she continued. “Over a year ago I was approached to be on the advisory board for this project, and Peter instantly saw back then the need to incorporate athletes here.”
The final spot visited on this tour was the Podium Restaurant on the fifth floor of the building. It is a large round room with large televisions scattered around the room and a patio that has a wonderful view of Dundas Square.
Students can also take advantage of discounts on beer on Thursday nights at The Podium, starting November 11. That night will be the official launch of the promotion called “Spirit Nights at the Podium.”
“We’ve taken Thursday night and made it student night here,” said Doyle. “That seems to be a good night for students to let their hair down.”
The day ended on a high note, as Marnie McBean sat with the reporters and shared pizza and beer with all of them.
“My friends say I am always drinking beer,” she said with a laugh.
“I am always trying to come up with new programs,” she continued. “One of the things that made me excited about this job was a chance to give back to the community and athletes.”
McBean was alluding to the fact that Olympic Spirit actively hires university and college athletes, including a number of swimmers from U of T. Also, Olympic Spirit is required to pay royalties to the Canadian Olympic Committee, which go to help fund Canadian athletics.
Visitors to Olympic Spirit Toronto will enjoy a relaxed environment, a quality restaurant, and the knowledge that they are helping fund Canadian athletics. If one is really lucky, they may even get the chance to sit back and enjoy a beer and friendly conversation with an Olympic hero like Marnie McBean.
