(ATR) Colorado Springs will soon be home to the first Olympic Museum in the United States.
Ground was broken on the 60,000 square foot building June 9 at a ceremony featuring Olympic speakers along with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers.
With ultra-modern design, the museum will bring alive the experience of Olympians while providing a place to display treasured items from the past.
Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Museum (USOM) Board Richard Celeste tells Around the Rings the museum shows those who visit what it’s like to be an Olympian.
"The idea was a museum that would be far more action-oriented than we think of museums that tend to be static places, that would convey to visitors the journey Olympic and Paralympic athletes take," Celeste tells ATR Editor Ed Hula on the latest edition of ATRadio.
"What is it like to go to the Winter Games and the Summer Games? We’ll feature every sport that the U.S. has competed in the Modern Olympics since 1890s."
The project will cost $75 million but Celeste says the Board will continue to fund raise for the project to continually update it and ensure America’s great athletes get the recognition they deserve.
"It is also THE Hall of Fame for our Olympians and Paralympians," Celeste says. "We have not had, in my view, a Hall of Fame that is as worthy as the athletes and the others that are in it."
The museum is expected to be completed in 2019.
Listen below for more details on the future museum with Celeste and Hula.
All photos courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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