Training elite athletes should be

Richmond must make a long-term commitment to training elite athletes if the city wins its bid to host an Olympic speed skating oval for the 2010 Games, a Calgary Olympic Oval official said.

Mark Greenwald, director of sport at the University of Calgary's Olympic Oval, said speed skating tracks built for the Games require ongoing subsidization to stay afloat.

In the case of Calgary, which hosted the 1988 Winter Games, Olympic legacy funds have financed the majority of its oval's post-Games operational costs.

Legacy funds are available to facilities that dedicate at least a portion of programming time to training elite athletes.

Richmond, which submits its oval bid to the Vancouver Organizing Committee tomorrow, hopes legacy funds would offset its post-Games operational costs. But the city's bid calls for a multi-use facility following the Olympics, possibly dedicating only a portion of time for training elite athletes.

Calgary maintains a 400-metre speed skating track and two Olympic-size ice rinks for almost 10 months of the year. Other events, such as car and trade shows, occupy the oval during the remaining months.

The Viking Ship, Lillehammer's speed skating oval for the 1994 Games, is only partially dedicated to training elite athletes.

But Greenwald argues that combining high-performance sport and trade shows doesn't always foster elite athletes. It's a model that's forced Norweigan athletes to travel outside the country when an ice surface isn't available.

"Try to justify spending an Olympic legacy fund on a giant trade show building," said Greenwald. "You can't have it both ways."

In early July, Richmond civic staff and politicians toured the Viking Ship, and returned convinced it's the best model for Lulu Island.

Coun. Bill McNulty, who made the trip to Lillehammer, said it was the "most comprehensive" model, hosting concerts and workshops in the facility post-Games.

"They have a very very wide variety of usages there, which are paid for, and the revenue maintains the site."

Calgary's games, which cost $900 millionincluding $39 million for the ovalrang in a $150-million legacy, primarily from television revenue.

Much of that went to a fund that grew over the years, paying dividends to winter sport organizations, athlete and coaching scholarships, research and upkeep of facilities.

"There were worries that this would be a huge white elephant on a very attractive university campus with some higher-end homes in the immediate area, and people were afraid of it. I think it's anything but," said Greenwald.