General View of the Bislett Stadium (© Getty Images)
Thanks to a mild winter by Scandinavian standards since the foundation stone of the new Bislett Stadium was laid on 19 November 2004, work on the venue in the Norwegian capital has progressed extremely well.
Due to all the upheaval of the demolition and construction process, after one year away at the City of Bergen’s Fana stadium, everything is on schedule for Oslo the traditional home of the Bislett Games, to host the 2005 edition of the TDK Golden League meeting in its new stadium on 29 July.
The chief commissioner of Oslo city council, Erling Lae, had the honour of laying stone last autumn, which is in fact a time capsule box containing a set of the coins and stamps published in 2004, Norwegian daily newspapers from 19 November, 2004, as well as building documents and drawings of the new stadium.
"This is a happy day," Lae told the Norwegian daily newspaper VG at the time. "We are building a state of the art stadium for the future that complies with international standards.”
Athletics fans now have the chance to keep up with ‘a work in progress’ by following a unique ‘month by month’ photographic diary of the project, which includes shots of both the destruction of the old Bislett and the step by step rise of the new.
Click here for the photo diary
Click here for the website of Bislett Games
TDK Golden League 2005
2005 Dates
Paris - Friday, 1 July
Rome - Friday, 8 July
Oslo - Friday, 29 July
Zürich - Friday, 19 August
Brussels - Friday, 26 August
Berlin - Sunday, 4 September
2005 Events
There will be seven events for men and five for women:
Men - 100m, 800m, 1500m or Mile, 3000m or 5000m, 110m Hurdles, High Jump, Javelin Throw.
Women - 100m, 800m, 3000m or 5000m, 400m Hurdles, Triple Jump.
