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Jamsil Olympic Stadium, Seoul, South Korea

Known as Seoul Olympic Stadium or Jamsil Olympic Stadium, this ... um ... stadium was built for, well, the 1988 Olympics. Construction started back in 1977 and it was completed in 1984. It served as the home for the 1986 Asian Games before the Olympics came to town two years later. It's seen sporadic use since then including concerts by Michael Jackson, Metallica, and Lady Gaga, though a new professional football team is expected to move in next year.
 It still looks nice, though, sitting across the parking lot from Jamsil Baseball Stadium. I don't know if the stadium is accessible and I didn't have a lot of time to explore, but there is a bit of a monument to the Olympic Games along the east side.
 It's called Star Street, and it features displays honoring Korean Olympic teams, especially the medal winners.
 Each Games event (1988, 1992, 1996, etc) has its own "wall" in the middle of the plaza with large pictures of several of the biggest stars. additional details are included on the left.
 A large wall with the results of the 1988 Games.
 There are glass panels for the 1988 Games with seating areas.
 These cubes have photos from recent Games as well.
The Korean Olympic Hall of Fame, I suppose? These are all Korean athletes from the 1992 Games.

Behind the stadium is a small collection of shops that seem to exclusively sell exercise equipment and sporting goods. In that "mall" is a small, free Olympic museum. It's called Seoul Olympic Exhibition Hall.
 Seoul has a dedicated Olympic museum, so this one has only a few artifacts without much story.
 Uniforms, coins and other souvenirs, badges...
 Costumes and other goods that were used at the stadium...
It's not worth a trip on its own, but I was trying to find Korean baseball souvenirs and there is a shop in this mall that carries goods year-round, including some collectibles that I never saw in any team stores.

Jamsil Olympic Stadium is located outside exits 6 and 7 of Sports Complex Station on Line 2 of the subway system. The baseball stadium is closest to the station, but the Olympic Stadium is very visible just beyond it. Jamsil Arena is to the right of the Olympic Stadium behind the Students Gymnasium and what I think is the Olympic pool; the shopping area and museum is on the east side of the Olympic Stadium underneath the car park. Star Street is in front of the Olympic Stadium, leading toward the shopping area.

2 comments:

  1. The place looks awesome. It's held up nicely for being thirty years old.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It seems to be in pretty good shape, at least outside.

    ReplyDelete