Inside abandoned Olympic ice rink where best female figure skater EVER delighted crowds – as just a puddle remains

THIS formerly great ice rink once played host to the greatest female figure skater ever – but now lies in ruin.

The Berkeley Iceland ice rink in California has been left to rot after years of use from famous Olympians.

Stories, DiscoveryIceland was a state of the art ice rink[/caption]

Stories, DiscoveryThe building is an empty shell of its former glory[/caption]

After opening its doors in 1940, it began hosting major events in the world of figure skating.

And world famous figure skater Sonja Henie helped open the rink – she was a three time Olympian, ten time World Champion and six time European champion.

Skaters including Peggy Fleming, Britan Boitano and Kristi Yamaguchi used the rink to train.

It hosted the US National Figure Skating Championships three times, and was the practice facility for the 1994 USA Men’s Hockey Team.

But now, the formerly great venue is a puddle inside an abandoned, graffiti covered building.

YouTube channel Stories took their cameras to the abandoned rink, and said: “These walls heard the voices of Olympians talking about gold. Today, it survives as a testament to nostalgia.”

In the late 2010s, however, the abandoned shell of an ice rink was transformed into a retail store – but the owners paid homage to the former venue.

The sporting goods store still has the original signs from Iceland, where the first Zamboni was used.

But it’s not the only sporting venue to be abandoned – we went inside the deserted £8billion stadium left to rot since 2004.

But less than 20 years on, the abandoned site of the Athens 2004 Games is a complete eyesore that has been left to rot.

Kelly Holmes grabbed TWO golds in the famous athletics stadium while Chris Hoy starred in the velodrome and Team GB’s sailors and rowers delivered the goods on the water once again.

Greece spent a whopping £8billion to bring the Olympics back to the historic home in Athens.

However, large parts of the site now lie in complete disarray.

The paintwork and colour have been replaced by overgrown weeds and graffiti in a sad state of affairs.

Finally, many of the outdoor seats now have tufts of grass spurting between them – the only sign of life in the vicinity.

Athens is not the only city with abandoned Olympic venues.

The likes of Beijing 2008, Berlin 1936 and Sarajevo 1984 were all left unkept as nature took its course.

Stories, DiscoveryThe abandoned rink has been transformed into a sporting goods store[/caption]

Stories, DiscoveryThe best figure skater in the world skated there[/caption]

Stories, DiscoveryThe abandoned rink still has puddles inside[/caption]