Venues’ Overview
Eleven competition venues were used for the Olympic Winter Games Sapporo 1972. Eight were built for the Games, two of them were temporary, and one venue already existed before the Games. Among all of them, eight are still in use today, hosting sports and leisure activities.
All eight new-built venues remain in use, with the exception of the Mount Teine sliding tracks. The bobsleigh and luges courses were underused, owing to the lack of an established sliding sports culture in Japan, and subsequently mostly dismantled around 30 years after the Games. Additionally, the new-built Makomanai biathlon course was converted into a general firing range and training centre for Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Force, as planned.
The two temporary venues were dismantled as planned. Some 20 hectares of forest were cut down to make way for the Mount Eniwa courses (downhill skiing events), the courses were removed, as intended, and the site successfully replanted. The infrastructure of the Makomanai Cross-Country Events Site was dismantled after the Games as envisaged, although people continue to practise cross-country skiing in Makomanai Park.
This park, which became the hub of the Games, is central to the legacy of Sapporo 1972. The site contained two key venues – the Makomanai Indoor Skating Rink and the Makomanai Speed Skating Rink (outdoor), which remain popular with the local community and visitors. These venues also held the Opening and the Closing Ceremonies.
Alpine skiing was split across two venues at Sapporo 1972. Slalom and giant slalom were held at Mount Teine, an existing resort known as one of Japan’s best ski destinations and renowned for the quality of its snow. The other venue, Mount Eniwa Downhill events site was built for temporary use.
The Miyanomori jump hill (newly built) and the Okurayama jump hill (existing) are still regularly used for international and national competitions, and as training sites.
As per the post-Games planning, the Olympic Village provided housing for local citizens in the south of the city and is overseen by the Urban Renaissance Agency (previously known as the Japan Housing Authority).