Igman venues
Although Igman Malo Polje’s two ski jumps are out of use, the facilities around them and the Veliko Polje trails have been redeveloped and still welcome families in both summer and winter.
The Malo Polje facilities include a fully functioning restaurant and a small ski lift and slope used for beginners’ ski classes, while the ski jumps’ run-off area is home to a playground.
Attempts have been made to further develop the venue in recent years. In 2010, ZOI’84 presented ambitious plans for the reconstruction of the ski jumps and the development of the site. Funding was an issue, however, and the projects fell through. In 2019, plans were made for the construction of an adventure park and zipline. These were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Built especially for the ski jumping and Nordic combined competitions at the Olympic Winter Games Sarajevo 1984, Igman’s five original ski jumps (three wooden and two concrete) opened in 1983. The Olympic large hill ski jumping competition attracted a crowd of 90,000 people and the normal hill 45,000. That enthusiasm continued after the Games as Sarajevo enjoyed a winter sports boom, with locals flocking to the facility.
Malo Polje was used for four Europa Cup ski jumping tournaments in the mid-to-late 1980s, its jumps hosted their last competition in 1988. Heavy fighting during the Bosnian War caused the destruction of the wooden jumps and extensive damage to the surviving concrete ones.
Next to the ski jump in-run lies the Mraziste Hotel and restaurant, which was renovated for the Games. It was used by the United Nations and French Foreign Legion during the war and was heavily damaged. The ground-floor restaurant was renovated after the conflict and makes use of the hotel rooms above it for storage.
Veliko Polje is also situated on Mount Igman, to the south west of Sarajevo. Some 15 kilometres of its 39 kilometres of tracks remain in use for local skiers, and its many trails are popular with walkers, runners and cyclists.
Nearby stands the Hotel Igman, which was the Olympic Village B at the Sarajevo Games and housed reporters and competitors in the cross-country, Nordic combined and biathlon events. Built for the Games, it too was bombed during the war and remains in ruins.