George Odlum Stadium
 George Odlum Stadium
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| Location | Vieux Fort, St Lucia |
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| Coordinates | 13°45′11″N 60°56′38″W / 13.753105°N 60.943909°WCoordinates: 13°45′11″N 60°56′38″W / 13.753105°N 60.943909°W |
| Type | Stadium |
| Genre(s) | Football |
| Capacity | 9,000 |
The George Odlum Stadium is a 9,000 capacity football stadium in Vieux Fort, St Lucia.
The stadium was handed over to the Government and people of St Lucia, represented by Prime Minister Honourable Dr. Kenny Anthony and Minister for Education, Human Resource Development, Youth and Sports, Honourable Mario Michel, in July 2002. Its construction was financed by the People's Republic of China. It was given its current name in 2007.
The stadium is located on a wide plain in St Urbain, at the foot of Morne Beausejour in the southern community of Vieux Fort. It is approximately five minutes away from the main population centre in the south of St Lucia, and virtually a stone’s throw from the Hewanorra International Airport. The stadium is approximately 45 minutes away from the capital, Castries.
The National Stadium was one of several projects negotiated by then Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Trade, George Odlum. Preparatory work on the site was undertaken over several months by the Government of St Lucia at a cost of Three Million Eastern Caribbean Dollars (EC$3 million), just over US$1 million. In September 2000, the site was handed over to a Chinese construction company, the China National Overseas Engineering Corporation(COVEC).
Over the course of the next two years, COVEC built the stadium superstructure on part of the site, with two spectator stands, a grass field, a rubberized track, lights and large parking areas. Coming in at a total cost of EC$55 million, the stadium was the most modern in the Caribbean at the time of its construction. One of the first events at the stadium, then simply known as the St Lucia National Stadium, was the multi-discipline Windward Islands Secondary School Games.
Modern as it is in terms of layout, seating, fixtures and amenities, the stadium was not equipped with an IAAF-certified competition surface. By 2009, such a surface would prove necessary if the St Lucia Athletics Association were to prove successful in its bid to host the XXXVIII CARIFTA Games, a regional track and field championship featuring hundreds of athletes from over 20 territories. Prime Minister Honourable Stephenson King pledged Government’s support.
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