Stockholm Olympic Stadium (), most often called Stockholms stadion or (especially locally) simply Stadion, is a

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Designed by architect

Torben Grut Torben Grut (2 June 1871 - 24 December 1945) was a Swedish architect. Biography Torben Andreas Grut was born at Tuns parish in Skaraborg County, Sweden. Grut studied at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. From 1894, Grut was e ...

, it was opened in 1912; its original use was as a venue for the

1912 Olympic Games The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

. At the 1912 Games, it hosted

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

, some

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

matches,

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

, the running part of the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Summer Olympics, Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, Laser pistol (sport), laser pistol shooting, and ...

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport in which two teams compete by pulling on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal of bringing the rope a certain distance in one direction against ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

events. It has a capacity of 13,145–14,500 depending on usage and a capacity of nearly 33,000 for concerts.

Overview

The Stadium was the home ground for association football team

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

for many decades, until the more modern

Tele2 Arena 3Arena, formerly the Stockholmsarenan (and Tele2 Arena), is a retractable roof multi-purpose arena in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov, just south of Stockholm City Centre, Sweden. It is used mostly for concerts and Association football, footbal ...

was inaugurated in 2013.

still has offices in the Stadium building. In 1956, when

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

hosted the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, the

competitions were held here due to

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...

rules in Australia. In 1958 the stadium was the venue of the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletic Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for me ...

. Finland-Sweden athletics international has been held here 29 times. The annual

Stockholm Marathon The Stockholm Marathon, known as the adidas Stockholm Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon arranged in Stockholm, Sweden, since 1979. It serves as the Swedish marathon championship race. At the 2009 Stockholm Marathon more tha ...

finishes with a three quarter lap around the tracks of the stadium. Since 1967 the stadium has been the venue of the annual international athletics meeting

DN Galan BAUHAUS-galan, formerly known as DN-Galan is an annual, international athletics meeting that takes place at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Previously it was one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events until 2010, and has since been part of th ...

, from 2011 part of

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

. Originally, the north-east stand had two levels, increasing the capacity to about 20,000. After the Olympics, it was reduced to one level. The

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

station ''Stadion'' was opened in 1973. Some sections of the stadium were damaged by a bomb attack on 8 August 1997.

Mats Hinze Mats Michael Hinze (born 22 September 1970), also known as OS-bombaren (), is a Swedish right-wing anarchist who was caught carrying a backpack containing explosives by Millesgården in 1997. Political career Hinze was born in Täby, Sweden a ...

, who was against Stockholm's bid for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, was later found guilty.

Other events

Since then, it has hosted numerous sports events, notably

and

track and field athletics Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, but also for example, 50 Swedish Championship finals in

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

and hosted concerts. In 1985, Bethany College head coach and future

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

member Ted Kessinger brought the first

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team to play in Sweden. The Bethany "Terrible Swedes" defeated the Swedish all-star team 72–7.

Motorcycle speedway

The stadium hosted motorcycle speedway, with the

Swedish Individual Speedway Championship The Swedish Individual Championship is a competition for Swedish Speedway riders, held each year to determine the Swedish national champion. History After World War II the first championship was held in 1948, although it was considered unoffi ...

being held from 1948 until 1971, when the speedway surface was replaced by an athletics track. The team

Getingarna Getingarna was a motorcycle speedway club from Stockholm in Sweden. They hold the record for Swedish Championships with 14 league titles to their name. History The club's first name was Motorsällskapet and they competed in the very first Swe ...

also rode league speedway from 1949 to 1953. Thirty years later in 2001 and then in 2002 and 2004, the venue hosted the

Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden The Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden is a speedway event that is a part of the Speedway Grand Prix Series. Winners Most wins * Jason Crump 4 times * Bartosz Zmarzlik 4 times See also *List of sporting events in Sweden * Speedway Grand ...

Records

It is one of the smallest athletics stadiums ever used in a

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

. Stockholm's stadium has seen more athletic world records broken than any other stadium in the world, with a total of 83 as of 2008. The record attendance, for football, is 21,995 and was set on 16 August 1946, when

played AIK. The record attendance, for bandy, is 28,848 and was set in 1959. In 1995,

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

performed at the stadium in front of 35,200 people.

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

sold out the stadium, by selling all 32,500 tickets in less than 20 minutes, during their 2008 World Tour. Kiss also played two nights at this stadium during their 1996–97 reunion tour Alive/Worldwide.

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

performed on stage twice on July 17–18, 1992, during the

Dangerous World Tour The ''Dangerous'' World Tour was the second world concert tour by American singer Michael Jackson and was staged to promote his eighth studio album '' Dangerous.'' The tour was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola. All profits were donated to various chari ...

. Each show had 53,000 viewers, and in total 106,000 viewers.

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

has performed at the stadium no less than eight times. Twice in 1988, once 1993, twice in 1999 and again in 2009 playing three sold-out shows to approximately 100.000 people.

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

performed at the stadium on 3 June 2010 in front of 32,768 people.

Gallery

File:Opening 1912 Stockholm Olympics.jpg, Stockholms Olympiastadion as seen from the south at the opening of the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

. For the Games, the capacity was 20.000. File:Yuri Gagarin - Göran Sedvall.jpg,

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...

and Göran Sedvall at the 1964 national bandy final File:Stockholms Stadion Supporterstand.JPG, Western view of the stadium File:Stockholms Olympiastadion, 070310.JPG, Northern view of the stadium File:Stockholms Stadion Sections A to G.JPG, Eastern view of the stadium

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1912 establishments in Sweden Athletics (track and field) venues in Sweden Bandy venues in Sweden Diamond League venues Football venues in Stockholm Football venues in Sweden

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

Olympic athletics venues Olympic equestrian venues Olympic gymnastics venues Olympic modern pentathlon venues Olympic stadiums Olympic wrestling venues Speedway venues in Sweden Sports venues completed in 1912 Sports venues in Stockholm Venues of the 1912 Summer Olympics Venues of the 1956 Summer Olympics 1910s establishments in Stockholm