Venues

INTRODUCING THE ASPIRE DOME

If you could build the perfect indoor sporting venue, it wouldn’t be too different from the Aspire Dome in Doha, which is home to the 13th IAAF World Indoor Championships being held from 12-14 March 2010.

The distinctive Aspire Dome was designed by award winning French architect, Roger Taillibert, and covers an area of about 120,000 square meters. With a total seating capacity of 15,000 spectators, the Dome contains thirteen individual sports arenas including a track and field venue, swimming and diving pool, gymnastics hall, squash courts, two multi-sports venues, volleyball and a full-sized indoor football pitch, all within a climate controlled environment where participants can play sports every day of the year.

The Dome is the centre piece of Qatar’s Aspire Zone, a state-of-the-art sport, recreation, leisure, retail, tourism, sports science and medicine and education destination, which boasts some of the world’s finest sports venues today.

The Aspire Dome: At a Glance

* IAAF accredited indoor banked athletics track

* FIFA standard football pitch

* 50m Olympic size pool and diving pool

* Gymnastics training hall

* Table tennis hall

* Martial Arts training area

* Two multipurpose sports halls (basketball, volleyball and handball)

* Judo hall

* Two squash courts

* Cafeterias

* Offices

* Function rooms

* VIP corporate suites and seating

* Changing rooms

* Indoor warm up track

* Broadcast facilities

* Physiotherapy clinic and spa

* Sports psychology labs

* High performance laboratories including high altitude, movement analysis, power-analysis labs, etc.

ASPIRE ZONE

A majestic symbol of Qatar’s lasting commitment to sport, The Aspire Zone is spread over a 250-hectare site in Qatar’s capital, Doha. Established in 1995 to become a “centre of excellence” for sports events, education and training, today it is a hub for world sport as well as the home of the Aspire Academy, which is recognised globally as one of the best specialized sporting academies. The Academy offers a world class training environment with supporting infrastructure and advanced technology and training facilities.