Meadowbank’s decline could have far-reaching consequences
FOR so many of a certain vintage, Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh has generated countless fond sporting memories over the years. From its first hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 1970, through to its second 16 years later; staging world, European, Commonwealth and British title boxing matches; and, of course, playing a major part in creating one of Scotland’s greatest-ever sporting legends, Sir Chris Hoy; Meadowbank has a secure place in Scotland’s sporting history books.
It was, at one time, Scotland’s greatest multi-sport venue and deserved every international event that arrived at its door.
How times have changed. Way back in 2006, talk began of demolishing Meadowbank Stadium and building houses on the land.
Years of toing and froing followed, with the demolition of the stadium put on hold several times due, in large part, to the backlash Edinburgh City Council faced for its decision to raze it to the ground.
Finally, though, a compromise was reached, with the facility closed at the end of 2017 with a view to redeveloping it and returning it to something resembling the great home of sport it had previously been.
After months and months of delays, Meadowbank Stadium finally reopened this month, having been closed for almost five years.
However, it is a shadow of its former self.
As a community sports facility, it’s more than adequate.
But never again will we see world-class athletes, cyclists or boxers compete at the venue.
Meadowbank could previously hold 5000 spectators; it was a respectable capacity and meant Edinburgh, for so long, was a feasible option to host decent-sized sporting events.
For athletics, cycling and so many more sports, that is no longer an option in any shape or form.
The revamped Meadowbank has little capacity to house fans meaning the days of major athletics events in particular are well and truly over.
In reality, that’s been the case for a while.
Glasgow, with the indoor athletics track at the Kelvin Hall and now, the hugely impressive facility that is the Emirates Arena in the east end of the city, has been putting anything Edinburgh could offer to shame for years. What, then, the impact of Scotland’s capital having such a limited ability to host international events for Olympic sports?
I remain somewhat sceptical that hosting major sporting events is the primary driver in encouraging kids into sport, but I am confident it has a significant impact nonetheless.
Some of my clearest memories of watching sport as a kid are of cheering on Sally Gunnell, Linford Christie and Colin Jackson at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, just a few miles from my home.
I almost certainly would not have been in those stands had I been forced to travel across Scotland for the privilege.
With the failure to replace Meadowbank with a venue that can host international sport in a similar capacity, so many children in Scotland’s capital are being deprived of watching world-class athletes live, something that is a thousand times more inspiring than watching them on television.
There does, I accept, have to be an element of realism when it comes to building sporting stadiums; there is nothing more depressing and infuriating than white elephants.
But for Scotland’s capital to have allowed both an athletics stadium and an outdoor velodrome to rot – and replace them with nothing – is shameful.
We will never find out the damage the absence of such a facility in Edinburgh will have.
We must just hope it’s not as severe as it might be.
THE Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year feel like a lifetime ago but one of the stories of the Games, that of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, is still far from over.
Valieva was, of course, the 15-year-old hot favourite for figure skating gold but on the eve of her competing in the individual programme at the
Beijing Games in February, it was revealed she had tested positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine, which experts say can enhance endurance.
Under intense scrutiny, and extremely controversially, Valieva was allowed to skate but, unsurprisingly, the pressure was too much for the teenager and she finished outwith the medal positions, leaving the ice in floods of tears.
Valieva’s positive test meant the result of the team event, which she had helped Russia to gold just a few days previously, could not be verified and so the medal ceremony was delayed indefinitely until the teenager’s case was resolved.
To this point, the saga followed a fairly logical path but what has been revealed this week is entirely baffling.
There is still, nine months on from the 2022 Winter Olympics, no resolution to Valieva’s case.
RUSADA, the Russian doping authority, has made no progress on the case, meaning this week, it’s been referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Whatever the outcome of Valieva’s situation, the real tragedy is that there still has been no medal ceremony for the team event and it appears, if there ever is one at all, it will be well into 2023 or beyond before the medals reach their rightful owners.
Valieva’s plight is certainly more complex than some – there are serious duty of care issues at play when it’s taken into consideration that the Russian was only 15 at the time of all of this – but nevertheless, how can sport be taken seriously when almost a year on, Olympic medal winners have still not been confirmed?
For the other skaters, who have dedicated their lives to achieving Olympic glory, this moratorium on finalising the results is farcical, and yet another example of how sport remains so often at odds with how to deal with potential
dopers.
TOMORROW James Morgan