Seeing purple: Fans get a new track color and maybe record
PARIS (AP) — Fans will be seeing purple at the Olympics when athletes try to set records at this summer’s Paris Games.
In a move away from a more traditional red-brick clay color, an Olympic track is going purple for the first time.
The pieces of vulcanized rubber track were produced at a factory in northern Italy and workers have been laying them down at Stade de France, the national stadium hosting track events.
Workers even appeared to be doing an event of their own. Call it track rolling.
Getting down on their hands and knees, and with their hard hats on, they patiently and meticulously unfurl each strip before hammering a nail in to keep it in position. More than 1,000 such rolls will be used for the track, which requires about one month’s work and 2,800 pots of glue in total.
Three years ago, three world records and 12 Olympic marks were set on the red-brick track in Tokyo.