Olympic Stadium (Seoul)

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Olympic Stadium (Seoul)

Korean name
Hangul:	서울종합운동장
Hanja:	서울綜合運動場
Revised Romanization:	Seoul Jonghap Undongjang
McCune-Reischauer:	Sŏul Chonghap Undongjang

The Jamsil Olympic Stadium (formerly Anglicized Chamshil) in Seoul, South Korea was the main stadium built for the 1988 Summer Olympics, and is the centrepiece of the Jamsil Sports Complex in the Songpa-gu District, in the southeast of the city south of the Han River.

The stadium was designed by Kim Soo-geun. The lines of the stadium's profile imitate the elegant curves of a Korean Joseon Dynasty porcelain vase. Spectator seats are distributed on two tiers, with the entire structure covered by a retractable roof. Initially built with a capacity of approximately 100,000, today it seats 69,000.

Prior to its construction, Seoul's largest venues were Dongdaemun Stadium and Hyochang Stadium. Seating 30,000 and 20,000 respectively, they were too small to attract world-class sporting events. Construction on the new stadium began in 1977 with the aim of staging the Asian Games in 1982. However, when Seoul was awarded the Olympic Games for 1988 in September 1981 , this event became the centrepiece.

The stadium opened on September 29, 1984, and served as the site for the 10th Asian Games two years later, then the Olympics in 1988. However, it had fallen into disrepair and was not used in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.