Читать книгу Alma-Ata – discouraging charm in the Centre of Asia. The subjective guidebook - Andrey Mikhailov - Страница 7

The alpine skating rink Medeo is more than the sports venue. We may surely say that there’s no other such a popular Olympic brand in Kazakhstan.

And though much time passed since that period when this alpine skating rink was rightly called “the factory of records” – memory remains. And not only with the chroniclers registering the world sports achievements, but also with all those who skated, skate and will skate on Medeo’s speedy ice.

Right after its opening Medeo became people’s favourite place for spending their time off. In those years when the chilling equipment of the rink functioned properly, it was open from September till April. Although for all comers it was open only at weekends, the annual attendance figure reached 150 thousand people!

To visit Medeo with friends, “to go skating” was a usual and common thing for us, young Alma-Ata residents of that time. (Despite the fact that it was never easy to get there by bus.) Sometimes in warm days of autumn the skating rink was fully crammed with skating people. But – so many loving hearts found each other in these crowds! So many sudden collisions led to long-lasting relationships!

As for these photos, they were taken recently. Today the second and the third generations of Medeo fans skate on its ice.