() is an outdoor

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skat ...

venue located in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It hosted the

events for the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. The 1968 Winter Games marked the first time ...

. This Speed Circuit is located in a park of 27 hectares, the Park Paul Mistral. The park also hosts the

Palais des sports Palais des Sports (French: Palace of Sports) is a generic name of comprehensive indoors sports venue, mostly in the French-speaking world, including: ; France: *Palais des Sports de Beaulieu, Nantes * Palais des sports Ghani-Yalouz, Besançon * Pal ...

was the main Olympic site in the city in 1968. The venue seated 2500 during the games, and was cooled to using of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

refrigeration Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while the removed heat is ejected to a place of higher temperature).IIR International Dictionary of ...

over a total skating surface of .

Description

The speed ring was built outdoors, on a concrete slab cooled by over 125 km of tubing fed by a direct-pressure ammonia refrigeration plant. The grandstands are also made of concrete, and house the facilities required for the Olympic Games (offices, changing rooms, infirmary, bar and refrigeration facilities), as well as 2,500 seats.

References

1968 Winter Olympics official report.
pp. 105–6. Venues of the 1968 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skating venues Speed skating in France Speed skating venues Sports venues in Grenoble {{Winter-Olympic-venue-stub