Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1940, Qupperneq 169

FINLAND AND THE XII OLYMPIC GAMES 163
the Swimming Stadium was lost during the war when the vessel
which was bringing it was sunk.
In accordance with the wishes of the Athletic Section of the
Olympic Games, the Municipality of Helsinki laid out a beautiful
Marathon track through fine scenery in afforested country near
the Stadium, with a lap 8.5 kms in lengths. The track was
completed in the summer of 1939, and four Marathon races
have been successfully held on it.
Thanks of the Olympic Games, Helsinki has acquired the
biggest equestrian hall in the world, built by the Municipality.
The hall is 100 metres in length and 42 metres broad. The stands
accommodate 5000 spectators. Connected with the hall are two
large stables, with room for 250 horses. The equestrian hall and
stables cost the Municipality more than 19 million marks.
Competition sites previously in existence in Helsinki comprise
the Malmi rifle range on which the World Championships were
contested in 1937; the Exhibition Hall (Finnish Fair), a favourite
site for wrestling, boxing and gymnastic matches; and the West-
end tennis courts, open-air and covered, which were reserved for
the fencing events. The Municipality of Helsinki began in 1939
to put into order several training fields, chiefly for footballers
and track and field athletes. Although the Games had to be
abandoned, these sports fields have been put into complete order
and now serve the country’s own athletic needs.
The reader may be curious to know how much the prepara-
tions for the Olympic Games have cost. The actual expenditure
by the Organization Committee was, in round figures, 21 million
tnarks; the Government had guaranteed up to 40 million marks.
The Municipality of Helsinki has so far used for building work
in connection with the Olympic Games a sum of about 150 mil-
lion marks, but as the Swimming Stadium, for instance, is still
incomplete, the final figure cannot be stated yet. Parliament
authorised, in the autumn of 1938, a premium bond loan of
200 million marks to cover estimated total expenditure; the ap-
propriations which this loan was to cover were for such purposes
as railway works, extensions to the telephone network, the con-
struction of a short-wave radio station, a new Cadet School, the
ttaining college for nurses, etc. Really, only a small part of this