OLYMPIC STADIUM

Hokitika Guardian, 14 January 1932, Page 8

OLYMPIC STADIUM

AN ENORMOUS STRUCTURE. COVERS 17 ACRE'S. LOS ANGELES PREPARES. .The Olympic sports, ns we know thejn, were revived in Athens in 1896, being held in a stadium which accommodated 40,000 people, erected on the site of ithe original one built in 330 13. C. But Olympic sports, which hr.d an enormous influence upon the Hellenic woiTtl, were held for hundreds of years before that, attaing their' zenith probably in the year 464 8.C., or 2396 years ago. “As handsome as a Greek god” is still a common phrase, and it comes right down from the days of Phidias, who fashioned in marble that beauty, and grace of form which one finds only in those races who are. ever active, physically energetic, boundlessly ambitious in achievement, and temperate in all things. These produce the perfect mail and the perfect woman. It was to revive something of the spirit of the ancient Greeks that the Olympic Games were revived in 1896, and it does the nations infinite credit that now, thirtyseven years later, the games are to be held 9000 miles to the westward of (Athens, in the wonder city of western United States—Los Angeles. To accommodate the games a wonderful stadium has been built, only a mile from the stately white tower of the City Hail and contiguous to the campus of the University of Southern California. The new stadium is (V largest structure of its kind in the "mid. H Bias ft. reserved 'seating cap,..-no ■>' 103,000 and accommodation for 125,000 persons on general admission. Two stadiums of tne size of the Odisseum at ißome could be set within its. walls, and still 'leave room to spare. The stadium is 112 ft. long, 791 ft. wide, and has an outer circumference of 3000 ft. It covers an area of 17 acres. The width oi the field is 344 ft , and its length from wall to wall .is 680 ft. From the athletic field, which is 32ft tefow ground level, it i s 106 ft. on a vertical line to the top of the surrounding walls. The 79 rows of seats, if placed end to end, would extend a distance of move than 30 miles. The total electric wattage used when the playing field is illuminated is 280,000, or sufficient to light a town of 15,u70 inhabitants. Approximately 2,500,000 ft. of lumber, 40,000 tons of sand, 40,000 tons of rock, and 355,000 sacks of cement went into its construction. If all these materials were p.'aced in railways cars they would form a freight train 18 miles long.