18 F THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2020The new U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Mu-
seum in Colorado Springs does not distin-
guish between winners or losers; the ath-
letes who earned medals and enduring pub-
lic adoration at the Games receive the same
recognition as those who went home empty-
handed.
The museum is more interested in hon-
oring the determination it takes just to
make the team, that quality the Olympic ice
skater Peggy Fleming sums up simply as
“having the guts and the mental strength”
to compete on behalf of your country when
the whole world is watching.
“It’s so big, and you’re so distracted, and
you’re there to get the job done,” she said.
“It’s a very different nerve level. And that’s
true for every athlete.”
So, the rhinestone-studded, chartreuse
skating dress Ms. Fleming’s mother made
for her gold-winning moment in Grenoble,
France, in 1968 sits in a glass case at the mu-
seum right next to the bobsled suit Steven
Holcomb wore to Vancouver in 2010, and
just a few artifacts away from the hockey
glove Pat Sapp used to block pucks in 2002
in Salt Lake. The acclaimed and the some-
times-forgotten get equal billing.
And so, that same logic follows, do the
Paralympians. While most Americans —
and television networks and cereal compa-
nies — pay far greater attention to the
Olympics than the Paralympics, this mu-
seum fully integrates them under the as-
sumption that a wheelchair basketball play-
er trains just as hard as any other basket-
ball player. The only categories separating
the spotlights on individual sports are sum-
mer and winter.
“What I love about the museum is that it
does not just celebrate the high achieve-
ment of athletes, but it also looks at the jour-
ney,” said the Paralympian John Register,
who competed in swimming in 1996 and re-
turned for track and field in 2000, earning a
silver medal in the long jump. His prosthetic
leg and running shoe are on display.
What this museum is selling, according to
Christopher Liedel, the museum’s chief ex-
ecutive, is motivation.
“I want every kid to come in here and say,
‘I can be my own best person,’ whether it’s
in sports or in something else, by looking at
these examples of athletes who worked
hard,” he said.
The museum, which opened July 30,
frames its stories of triumph over adversity
in dramatic terms, starting with its location
on the edge of downtown with Pikes Peak
soaring into the sky behind it. The building
design aims high as well and was developed
by the architect Benjamin Gilmartin, a part-
ner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the New
York design studio known for its work on
the High Line on the West Side of Manhat-
tan and the Broad museum in Los Angeles.
Mr. Gilmartin was inspired by the sce-
nery and the subject matter, he said, and
wanted to create a building with world-class
aspirations of its own. The 60,000 square-
foot museum’s main structure, which fea-
tures tapered walls and a folded roof, ap-
pears to be in constant motion, pushing it-
self up off the ground and then “pinwheel-
ing and twisting and ascending in its ex-
pression,” as the architect describes it,
“almost reeling up to take flight.”
Early design concepts compared the
building’s layout to the movement of a dis-
cus thrower, starting low to the ground and
gaining momentum through circular revo-
lutions before releasing energy into the air.
Adding to the structure’s dynamism is its
exterior cladding, which consists of 9,000
panels of reflective, anodized aluminum in-
stalled in a diamond pattern. Each sheet isangled about one-inch above the sheet next
to it, creating small shadow lines that
change constantly with the daylight.
“We think of it as being a skin over the
bones of the space inside, or a garment
that’s skintight, like an Olympic uniform,
and something that’s highly engineered,”
Mr. Gilmartin said.
The museum’s other notable attribute is
its high level of accessibility. The architects
borrowed inspiration from the Guggenheim
Museum, which invites visitors to take an
elevator to the top floor and then descend
along ramps as they explore galleries.
There are no steps up or down, and the goal
is to eliminate any differences in the mu-
seum experience among people with vary-
ing physical abilities.
That idea drives every element in the mu-
seum. It combines static displays of things
like Olympic torches and medals going backto the first modern games in 1896 with high-
tech, interactive opportunities to learn
about everything from advances in sneaker
technology to the evolution of prosthetic
limbs to the ways Olympic officials are able
to test and catch athletes who dope.
Upon entering, each visitor is given a
badge attached to a lanyard and then
guided to a nearby kiosk to register any spe-
cial needs, such as enlarged type, audio ver-
sions of text or reduced sensory triggers. As
visitors proceed through the museum and
arrive at exhibits, sensors recognize their
badges and customize displays automati-
cally. There is no need to adjust things along
the way.
Accommodations are the norm. Ramps
are low-grade and extra wide to fit two
wheelchairs at the same time. Sign lan-
guage interpreters appear in the corner of
videos. Cane guards double as benches in
the building’s spacious atrium. In one
gallery, where visitors can try out different
sports using modified equipment, archers
can tell if they are aiming at the target’s cen-
ter by listening to the speed between audi-
ble beeps. Those attempting the luge know
if they hit the walls on their run by feeling a
subtle vibration in their sleds.
The museum’s exhibition designer, Galla-
gher & Associates, based in Washington,
D.C., used athletes across the board as con-
sultants, and many were conveniently on-
hand. Colorado Springs is home to the
United States Olympic & Paralympic Com-
mittee, the steward of the American team,
as well as the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic
Training Center, where athletes ready
themselves to compete. The nonprofit mu-
seum operates separately from those orga-
nizations, which have licensed it to use
“Olympic” in its name.
By and large, the $91 million project is a
local effort, supported by the Colorado
Springs business community, which hopes
the museum will be a catalyst for tourism
and bring excitement to a formerly indus-
trial part of the city that is ripe for redevel-
opment.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro positioned a cir-
cular plaza in front of the building, creating
an amphitheater, which uses the museum’s
front steps as seating and where live sports
and other events will be staged.
Looming in the background of it all is
Pikes Peak, which Ms. Fleming, who lives in
the area, believed brought the real and sym-
bolic ideas the museum embodied full cir-
cle. It reminds her of Mount Olympus,
where the Games, and their ideals of re-
warding the greatest of human effort, got
their start.
“The Olympic dream has always been
about going up a big hill to achieve what you
want,” she said. “And so this is a perfect
place for this.”By RAY MARK RINALDIThe design of the new
U.S. Olympic and
Paralympic Museum in
Colorado Springs aims to
symbolize soaring
achievement. A driving
concept is accessibility
for all, and exhibits focus
on both those who
garnered medals, like
Peggy Fleming, whose
skating costume is at
right, and those who
overcame physical
adversity to compete.All Athletes Are Equal Here
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum
honors the drive of those who compete.
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