Melbourne Olympic Park grassed over

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February 26, 2013

Events / Sport / Surfaces / Venues /

The transformation of the site of Melbourne's former Olympic Park is almost complete with the new MCG-sized training oval taking shape.

Turf was recently laid at the new venue in readiness for the Collingwood Football Club to relocate from the near-by Gosch's Paddock, to be right next door to the Westpac Centre the club's indoor training and administration facility.

The now demolished Olympic Park Stadium was originally built as a warm-up track for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.

The 18,500-capacity venue was Melbourne's primary venue for football, rugby union, rugby league and athletics for many years until the rectangular football codes moved next door to the new AAMI Park in 2010 and athletics relocated to the redeveloped Lakeside Stadium at Albert Park in late 2011.

Demolition of the venue was completed in 2012 with the two grandstands that seated 11,000 spectators torn down, terracing removed and the light towers replaced by new taller structures.

Collingwood Football Club will be the anchor tenant of the new Olympic Park Oval while the Melbourne Football Club will move from the fields beside AAMI Park to the Magpies current training ground at Gosch's Paddock. The ground is expected to be made available to the community with Melbourne's local footy leagues possibly using the venue.

The entire Olympic Park side has seen much change over the years since it was originally constructed in 1956.

The velodrome built for the Olympics was demolished in 1972 while the original Olympic Park No. 2 oval was developed in the late 1980s, becoming Melbourne's premier greyhound venue until it closed in the mid 1990s.

Meanwhile the Olympic swimming pool become an entertainment venue (The Glasshouse) in 1983 used primarily for basketball and was developed in 2003 to become an elite indoor training facility now known as the Westpac Centre.

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