Barcelona Is Hosting Europe's First Sports Theme Park

You can now challenge Usain Bolt at Barcelona’s first-ever sports amusement park planned for both the Olympic stadium and a selection of Olympic venues. Hovering above a wind tunnel in ski gear, partaking in an Olympic sports race, winning a gold medal and competing against the likes of Michael Jordan on a high-tech basketball court are just some of the activities on offer.

Home to one of the most successful football teams in the history of the sport – the world-famous FC Barcelona – the city has for a long time been a sports-loving city and is perfectly well placed to host the theme park.

Barcelona has hosted a number of international tournaments, including the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 1989 and 1999 European Champions’ League, the 2003 World Aquatics Championship and the 1987 World Taekwondo Championships. However, none compares in prestige to the 1992 Olympic Games, which were hosted here in the Catalan capital.

Until recently, the former Olympic site on Montjuïc had been used as a museum dedicated to the event, as well as a stadium for sports events and music performances. However, the site has now been transformed to host Open Camp – a world premier sports-theme park.

The project aims to commemorate 25 years since the Olympic Games took place in Barcelona – an event that changed the face of the city and helped transform it into the global travel destination it is today.

While details are currently thin on the ground, the stadium is set to offer more than 50 “virtual experiences with links to every sport”, in order to enable visitors to experience the Olympics just as the athletes did all those years ago. The Open Sprint gives guests the chance to run the 100m on the track, while the Open Hurdles puts their jumping skills to the test.

The park also pays homage to the Para-Olympians who took part in the event, inviting visitors to put themselves in the place of the athletes: Open Chair challenges participants to take part in an 80-metre (262-foot) run in a wheelchair.

While the project aims to look back at the achievements of the 1992 event, the park also offers access to some of the most cutting-edge sporting technology. There are over 20 experiences to be enjoyed, covering all of the main sporting events that took place during the games. Basketball fans will enjoy trying Open Basket, an interactive basket ball court that guides players using luminescent floor markings – the first of its kind in Europe. Open Moto gives visitors the chance to experience the thrill of being a MotoGP pilot, thanks to the four Movistar Team simulators – the only ones in the world.

There are also exercise activities to help you get as fit as an athlete, and more relaxed experiences such as the Open Walk, which lets guests see what it feels like to join the procession around the Olympic stadium.

The Open Camp theme park will be open every day from 10am to 7pm throughout the summer, with tickets starting from €7,50 (£6.50) for an adult.