How was the winter Olympic ice rink made?

At each Winter Olympics (Winter Olympics), snow ice is the most carefully prepared part.

The Korean Pyeongchang Winter Olympics is about to take place from February 9, and the organizers are rushing to the final preparations.

The ice rink at Gangneung Hockey Center (South Korea) is the venue for men's hockey content at the 2018 Winter Olympics - (Photo: Getty Images).

Meticulously tape each layer of ice

The ice rink is the basic venue for winter sports competitions. The ice rink is very elaborate.

First, a salt mixture is almost like sea water is put into concrete to create the foundation for the game field. This salt mixture is used to maintain the coldness of the ice above because when there is salt, the freezing temperature of the liquid will lower.

The second step, the engineers put a thick rope into the yard. Because the ground is made of water, using the wire will easily adjust the edges and curves accordingly.

Falls are inevitable in ice-based competitions - (Photo: AP).

After the base is completed, the engineers move to the most important stage: making the tape. The ice is made in layers, each layer is immediately sprayed and cooled.

The water source must be really pure, free of impurities, otherwise the ice yard will weaken, and the more pure the ice, the harder it will be.

After the first 2-3 layers of ice, it is to decorate the ice for the yard. Adding a few more layers is a tape with a logo and yard lines.

Depending on the sport, the game field will be "covered" by many layers of water. For example, the field for ice skating needs 20 classes, the field for hockey needs 30 classes .

After the layers of water are finished, it will go to the grinding process to achieve smooth gloss and thickness according to the standard.

The US team competed in the sleigh content of the Utah Winter Olympics 2002 - (Photo: US Army).

The time to complete each game field is also different. For example, the skating track takes about 5 days, the ice field on the ice needs 10 days, skating takes at least 14 days.

Making ice must be careful and meticulous to avoid frost forming on the ice surface due to moisture in the air. This icy layer can cause the surface of the game field to be patchy and dangerous during the competition.

Typically, in the sled track, the patchy runway can cause the car to bounce. And once bouncing once, it can lead to 2, 3, 4 times and there is a risk of accident.

And the ice skating field requires the thickest and warmest ice: about 5cm thick and always kept at -4 degrees Celsius, allowing athletes to skate and perform difficult moves like flying. or rotate.

Artificial snow "crowned"

A snow machine is operating in Weston, Massachusetts, USA - (Photo: AP).

Unlike ice, snow is obtained by crystallization of water vapor in the air below freezing temperature.

To create snow, there must be dust particles that support the crystallization process, if not, it requires -28 degrees Celsius to produce snow.

Although more and more beautiful, snowflakes are not an option for sports because it is hard to slip, the surface is not flat. Therefore, snow often has to be handled before organizing the tournament.

Engineers have to work very hard for months to make sure the ski track is steady and easy to slip. They continually reshape every corner of the snow field to a perfect level.

Specifically, engineers often wet the snow surface and then freeze to form a thicker and smoother layer above. However, if it is too wet, it will easily evaporate.

Today, with pressure from climate change and the support of modern technology, winter sports events often use artificial snow.

1980 Winter Olympics took place in Lake Placid, New York (USA) is the first Olympics to use artificial snow machines, helping people in warm and rainy weather conditions.

At the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver (Canada), people also used 95.3 million liters of water to make snow.

Shaun White athletes rush to the wall in the U-shaped skating cage at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games - (Photo: USA Today).

However, there were times when there were incidents, the 2014 Winter Olympics (Russia) took place in warm weather, making the rinks rough because of the snow.

In U-skaters, more than half of athletes fall in qualifying. Hannah Teter, Olympic champion twice had to criticize the "dangerous" and "bad" slide .

During the Olympics in Pyeong Chang (South Korea) here, everything is going well, only the temperature will be the coldest in the history of the conference.

This can affect many sports. With sleds, temperatures lower than -5 degrees C can make snow become brittle. With cross-country skiing, the ideal temperature is about -3.8 degrees Celsius, when colder, the snow will get dry and more friction.

American athlete Sarah Konrad said it was difficult to meet the conditions of the ice skating rink, but above all it had to create fairness for the athletes involved.