Due to the significant damage caused by a fire that occurred two weeks ago, the National Sports Institute (INS) of Quebec, the Olympic Stadium sports center and the rental floors of the Montreal Tower will be closed for a period of four at six months, learned The Press.
The closure was confirmed late Wednesday afternoon to around sixty directors, officials and stakeholders linked to the Institut national du sport du Québec, where hundreds of athletes are preparing for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. from Paris next summer.
The 4,000 members and other thousands of users of the sports center will also have to find a new place to run, cycle, lift weights, swim and move.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The more than 2,000 Desjardins and SIGMA-RH employees who occupy the rental floors of the tower inaugurated in 2018 will not have access to their workplace for at least four months. They have already started teleworking full-time, said Chantal Corbeil, senior media spokesperson at Desjardins.
This measure will also force the extremis move of the Olympic Swimming Trials, which were planned in the pool of the 1976 Games, from May 13 to 19. Natation Québec, which had obtained the organization for the first time since 2012, is currently working on an alternative solution to hold the event elsewhere in the Montreal region, with the support of Swimming Canada.
The Olympic Park was to provide an update on the situation on Tuesday, before simply indicating that the premises would be closed “until further notice”. The decision to close the place for a period of four to six months was communicated during the day on Wednesday.
The fire broke out outside the southeast side of the Stade tower (Montreal tower) on the night of March 20 to 21. “It was quickly brought under control, but nearby windows, which overlook an INS gymnasium, exploded because of the heat,” explained Cédric Essiminy, public relations advisor for the Olympic Park, Wednesday evening. “The smoke entered the sports center and the ventilation system which serves the entire tower. It was the soot which caused the bulk of the damage by penetrating the 16 floors of the tower, including the sports center and the INS. »
Fire caused by “human action”
The cleaning operation began on March 21. “We cannot reopen until it is decontaminated, cleaned and air quality tests allow us to ensure that we are providing a safe environment,” added Mr. Essiminy. Since the disaster, there are around 300 people working to clean, decontaminate and measure air quality. »
According to the Arson Unit of the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM), to which the investigation was entrusted the same day, the fire was caused by “human action”.
“However, at this stage, it has not been determined whether this was an accidental or intentional gesture,” said Jean-Pierre Brabant, spokesperson for the SPVM. This is what we will try to determine during the investigation which is still ongoing. »
The blaze started in an area which houses a “mirror pool”, closed during the winter. However, this place is partly covered by a roof where homeless people go to take refuge. To warm up, one of them lit a fire which then spread through fiberglass contained in a structure, according to information obtained by The Press. The damage caused would be at least a few hundred thousand dollars. Officials managed to reverse the thrust of the ventilation system to evacuate the smoke, otherwise there would have been more damage.
A tile before the Games
After having had to deal with the constraints of the pandemic before the Tokyo Summer Games and the Beijing Winter Games, in 2021 and 2022, the Institut national du sport du Québec must still react promptly to less than 115 and 150 days of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
“We are in the home stretch,” summarized the communications and marketing director of the INS, Jean Gosselin. “In some cases, qualifications still need to be made. It’s clear that this is far from the best time. Starting tomorrow, we will begin individual meetings for each sport to properly analyze the impacts and solution hypotheses. The idea is to approach the most optimal solution possible and to see how we can support them in this. »
Artistic swimmers, divers, boxers and judokas, among others, will suffer the repercussions of the closure of the INS.
As a precautionary measure, the organization, which welcomes 250 to 350 athletes every day for training, treatments and scientific monitoring, had already recommended that its residents plan their activities outside at least until the end of April. Four days after the fire, its medical clinic was partly redeployed in temporary premises which formerly housed employees of the Olympic Park, at the corner of Boulevard Pie-IX and Avenue Pierre-de-Coubertin.
“To my knowledge, no athlete has missed an appointment since,” added Mr. Gosselin. There, we will re-equip ourselves further to complete our equipment and be able to offer a greater scope of services. »
Otherwise, INS professionals will put themselves in “travel mode” to accompany the athletes directly to their new training locations, as they already do during competitions and training courses outside.
The judokas find themselves a roof
While waiting for the return of his best athletes on tour in Europe, Nicolas Gill is working to find solutions for the fifty judokas who normally train on the top floor of the Judo Canada dojo at the INS.
“We have taken temporary measures,” said the general director of the Canadian federation, before confirming the length of the closure. “A month is one thing, six months is another. »
For now, his troop is continuing its activities in a brand new dojo at the IPPON sports center, on Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine. “It’s very adequate, impeccable, but it’s smaller,” noted the double Olympic medalist. It was only a one month loan at first. There, six months… It’s like hosting a boyfriend for a few weeks and finally, he moves in with you! »
Gill had the opportunity to return to the INS premises on a few occasions to accompany the claims adjusters from Judo Canada’s insurance company. He saw soot everywhere. Considering the immensity of the sports center, the period of closure does not surprise him too much: “Our tatami mats are gray and blue. There, they are all the same color! »
Where will the Olympic Swimming Trials be held?
Natation Québec, for its part, is engaged in a race against time to find an alternative location to hold the Olympic Trials. Multiple world champion Summer McIntosh, seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak, Quebecer Mary-Sophie Harvey and all the best swimmers in the country will have to pass in order to qualify for Paris.
“Both the City, the government and Swimming Canada want it to stay in Montreal,” said Francis Ménard, general director of the Quebec federation. “There aren’t a lot of options on the table. »
Logically, Natation Québec is targeting the Claude-Robillard sports complex, the only place with a 50-meter pool of 10 lanes accessible by the metro. There would still be a lack of another standard pool for warming up, for swimming and especially for training during the competition.
“Nothing is finalized yet,” underlined Francis Ménard, looking for an additional swimming pool. Already, the Olympic Stadium, with its warm-up pool of only five lanes, did not meet Swimming Canada’s criteria.
“It is common knowledge that we do not have the adequate facilities in Quebec to present an event of this scale. »
With the collaboration of Daniel Renaud, The Press