SOLUTIONS: WINTER OLYMPICS, SOCHI RUSSIA
Record breakers
The 22nd Winter Olympics Games, held last month, not only provided a platform for the world’s best snow and ice athletes, but it also offered an opportunity for AV companies to showcase their wares across the numerous venues. James Christopher finds out more
stadiums involved in the 2018 World Cup, also to be held in Russia.
Some 1,727sqm of Panasonic LED large-screen displays were featured in Olympic-related facilities
WITH A budget of more than $50 billion, the 2014 Winter Olympics were the most expensive in the event’s history. Hosted in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, a record 88 nations competed and many events sold out. New venues built for the occasion inside the Olympic Park include the Fisht Stadium, the Bolshoy Ice Dome and the International Broadcast Center and Main Media Center. In the Krasnaya Polyana, or Mountain Cluster, a new ski complex, alpine resort and sliding centre were also constructed. All of this work provided
huge opportunities for the AV industry, with Panasonic, Polycom, Merging and EAW just some of the companies getting involved. Following its huge input to
the London Olympics in the summer of 2012, Panasonic has maintained its position as the main sponsor in the AV equipment category. The manufacturer supplied the largest amount of LED large- screen displays by area ever for the Olympic Winter Games, as well as the largest quantity of security cameras in the history of the event. In total, 1,727sqm of LED large- screen displays were featured
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in Olympic-related facilities along with 4,993 TV monitors, 207 DLP projectors and 6,903 security camera systems.
Equipment from Riedel was also utilised in high volumes, particularly during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. A Riedel Mass Cast deployment including 14 transmitters and thousands of receivers and earpieces provided support during the Ceremonies.
GAMES ON
During the Games, Riedel’s modular MediorNet and MediorNet Compact systems were deployed in double- redundant rings to serve as a fibre backbone for audio and HD video (with timecode), data and intercom signal transport within the stadium and several other venues that feed back to the International Broadcast Center. Eighteen Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom mainframes and an array of headsets and beltpacks also provided support at competition sites. Within the Fisht Olympic Stadium, the MediorNet infrastructure, including multiple interfaces and repeater sites, supported
wired and wireless Ethernet distribution to enable a local WiFi network and facilitate programming, co-ordination and execution of programme elements during the Ceremonies, such as lighting effects and the movement of scenic and flying objects. Supplied and co-ordinated by Riedel, the installation featured 90 discreet radio channels and more than 1,300 radios and 1,000 headsets. The massive Mass Cast deployment at the stadium also made audio available to artists performing in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Merging Technologies also
featured in the Opening Ceremony, with Avallon, the company’s reseller for Russia, supplying Horus units to handle additional input signals and routing between the different systems in the arena. In this case, Horus was connected to a Stagetec Nexus via MADI and the audio was controlled by a Stagetec Auratus-24 located high up in the stadium to give operators an excellent view of the arena. This was the first Horus installation made by Avallon engineers, although several have now been specified for football
MEDIA MATTERS Besides a huge workroom for members of the media that was in operation 24 hours a day, the Main Media Center also featured four press conference halls. These ranged in size from Pushkin, which holds 465 media representatives, to Chekov for 50 guests. Each hall was equipped with a whole set of integrated systems, including conference systems, videoconferencing systems, sound systems and simultaneous translation systems. There were eight synchronous languages available during press conferences, which in the peak period could number up to 18 per day. Polymedia also installed its own software, PolyWall, in the centre as an optimal visualisation control solution. PolyWall is a data visualisation management software that lets users control several displays and videowalls from a single cross-platform user interface, working with pre-loaded or online-created scenarios for complex events. Two videowalls and backup LCD displays were installed in the Pushkin press hall. In the smaller Tolstoy and Dostoevsky rooms, videowalls in a smaller 2 x 2 configuration were used.
Over in Medal Plaza, in the
centre of the Olympic Park, The Waters of Olympic Park fountain and sculpture installation by Southern California’s WET featured a spectacular water, fog and light show that integrated an EAW QX Series sound system. Surrounding the fountain’s 75m diameter, 2.7 million litre tank, a white metal sculpture enveloped the pool with its wings and held the burning Olympic Cauldron at its zenith. Inside the sculpture’s ‘neck’, an EAW QX Series and SB subwoofer sound system reproduced the classic orchestrations of Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Some 270º coverage was
achieved around the fountain with eight QX series enclosures: four QX544i-WP as a centre cluster and another four QX564i-WP along the left and right sides, all powered by 12 Powersoft K10 DSP+AESOP two-channel high-performance power amplifiers; six SB2001 subwoofers were placed at the base of the structure. Finally, ROE, a member of
Unilumin Group, designed 216 pieces of cylindrical LED display specifically for the Sochi event.
www.eaw.com www.merging.com www.panasonic.com www.polymedia.ru/en www.riedel.net www.unilumin.com
Polymedia integrated conference systems, videoconferencing systems, sound and simultaneous translation systems throughout the Main Media Center
www.installation-international.com
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