| Piscine-patinoire de Reims | |
| Address: | 41 Chaussée Bocquaine |
| Main Venue: | Patinoire olympique de Reims |
| Other Facilities: | Piscine olympique de Reims |
| Built: | 1964-1967 |
| Opened: | 16 October 1967 [1] 23 October 1967 |
| Renovated: | 1998 |
| Closed: | 25 October 2013 |
| Demolished: | 2014 |
| Cost: | ₣10,000,000 |
| Architect: | Jean-Claude Dondel Roger Dhuit Jacques Herbé |
Piscine-patinoire olympique de Reims (English: Reims Olympic Pool and Ice Rink),[2] also known as Piscine-patinoire Bocquaine after the street it was built on, and Nautilud for the swimming pool part, was a sports complex located in Reims, Marne, France.
The three-level building consisted of a swimming pool and an ice rink, overlooked by a panoramic restaurant with a view of the ice and the pool on each side (the latter was phased out in the 1990s).[3]
Bocquaine Ice Rink served as the home of Reims' ice hockey teams, the Flammes Bleues and later the Phénix.[4] Some promoters, including Gérard Drouot who hailed from Reims, have also used it as a live music venue.
The aquatic center housed the city's only 50-metre pool, as well as a smaller teaching pool. In the 1980s, a toboggan—86-metre long as of its dismantlement—was added to the building.[5] It was the home pool for Reims Natation 89, a water polo team that sporadically featured in the Pro A league.[6]
The building was approved by the City Council of Reims in 1963.[7] It was designed by the Paris-based team of Jean-Claude Dondel and Roger Dhuit, in cooperation with Jacques Herbé, member of a prominent family of local architects.[8]
The complex had two inauguration ceremonies : one for local dignitaries in October 1967, attended by swimmer Alain Gottvallès, and one in early December 1967, in presence of Minister of Sports François Missoffe.[7]
In 1998, Bocquaine underwent extensive renovations, which included the installation of an elevator.[9] [5]
In 2013, the venue had to close immediately after an inspection found advanced signs of decay on its wooden framework.[10] As another renovation was neither technically nor economically viable,[11] it was torn down in the fall of 2014.[12] In this absence of an adequate pool, Reims Natation 89 opted for voluntary relegation to the second tier of French water polo at the end of the 2013–14 season.[6]
The rink hosted the French Figure Skating championships in 1975, 1980 and 1991, as well as the French Ice Dancing Championships in 1972 when they were still a standalone event.[13] It also hosted the French Short Track Speed Skating Championships in 2003, 2006 and 2009.[14]
Acts that featured at the ice rink include Ange, Magma, Genesis and Barclay James Harvest.[15]