Four decades have passed since the Winter Olympics held in Sarajevo in 1984. Since then, sports venues have been ravaged by time, but also by the war that broke out in the former Yugoslavia at the dawn of the 1990s. .
Four decades after the Winter Olympics held in Sarajevo, then in Yugoslavia, the name of the Bosnian city no longer resonates as that of a host of the Olympics. In 1991, war broke out in the federation of Balkan republics, devastating Sarajevo in particular, the city most affected by a conflict which left more than 140,000 dead between 1991 and 2001.
Like the rest of the Bosnian capital, the Sarajevo Olympic venues were hit hard by Serbian strikes. In addition to the war, certain infrastructures on the outskirts of Sarajevo were left abandoned a few years after the Yugoslav Olympics.
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The sad fate of the Zetra room
Built for the Winter Olympics, awarded to Sarajevo in 1978, the Zetra Hall hosted the ice hockey and figure skating events as well as the closing ceremony. If after the event the room continues to run at full capacity, the war temporarily puts it out of use. During the 1984 Olympics, the Yugoslav War still seemed distant, only four years after the death of Marshal Tito, who had led the federation since 1953.
The coming to power of Slobodan Milosevic at the head of Serbia, with his nationalist ambitions in his baggage, undermines federal unity in the Balkans. From 1992, Sarajevo was the scene of the longest siege in modern history, which ended with the Dayton Accords at the end of 1995. But in the meantime, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina was ravaged by Serbian strikes. The Zetra Room is bombed, but remains standing.
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However, sporting concerns being far away in these times of war, the covered enclosure found a sinister use. Its basements serve as a morgue, while the wood from the seats is used to make the coffins of civilian victims. The surroundings are not more pleasant. In the shadow of Zetra, the Koševo Olympic stadium, built shortly after the Second World War, saw a cemetery set up around it.
At the end of the Bosnian War, leading to the latter’s independence in 1995, the Zetra Hall, whose foundations remained intact, was rebuilt in 1999 with the financial support of the IOC, which injected 11 million dollars. To thank the contribution of the Olympic body, the hall was finally renamed Juan-Antonio-Samaranch, in honor of the IOC president who died in 2010. As for the Koševo stadium, it once again became the home of FK Sarajevo, local football club, and the Bosnian selection, which hosted France in 2006 and 2010.
The descent of Mount Trebević left to nature and snipers
Bordering Sarajevo, Mount Trebević also hosted the 1984 Olympic Games. On the slopes of the Bosnian mountain, the first luge and bobsleigh track in the country’s history was built. But after the Olympic Games, this track was abandoned, as board sports are not the most popular in Bosnia. Over the years, nature and graffiti artists have taken over the place. If the ravages of war are less striking there, Mount Trebević, due to its dominant position over Sarajevo, was a sniper post during the siege of the city.
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Like Mount Trebević, Mount Igman has hosted events, including ski jumping. But as with the toboggan and bobsleigh tracks, time and war have passed there. Around the springboards, the army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina carried out executions, weakening the structures with bullet holes. Although renovation work was planned after the war, the springboards turned out to be too damaged and the project was abandoned.
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Still scarred by the memory of the war, omnipresent even twenty years later, Sarajevo retains few traces of its Olympic past, either eaten away by time or ravaged by war. However, the young country is a candidate for the organization of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, ultimately awarded to Canada. As a consolation prize, Bosnia and Herzegovina is awarded the organization of the European Youth Winter Olympic Games in 2019.
