Windback Wednesday - Olympic Sports Field (Kensington Oval)

In the 1960s, Kensington Oval was upgraded to Olympic standards and renamed Olympic Sports Field. Upgrades included a rubber bitumen athletics track and a new grandstand which could seat up to 1,200 spectators. The athletics track would be the home field of the South Australian Amateur Athletic Association and the Adelaide City Football Club, with the centre of the field resurfaced into a soccer pitch.

Olympic Sports Field was officially opened by Governor Edric Bastyan on 23 January 1965. Champion distance runner Kerry O'Brien circled the arena with a torch, which he then used to light a ceremonial Olympic flame, and the first race held on the track was between former SA Premier Thomas Playford and Governor Bastyan. The race ended in a tie.

Olympic Sports Field was South Australia's premier track and field stadium from 1965 to 1997. It played host to numerous local, state and national athletics events which were attended by world-famous athletes, including famed Olympic sprinter Cathy Freeman, who competed in an athletics championship at Kensington Oval in 1997.

The City of Burnside is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of Kensington Oval on Sunday 23 November, with a range of fun activities including a Heritage Zone marquee featuring 150 years of photos and memories of the oval, a self-guided heritage walking trail and a kids activity trail and colouring zone. This will all be hosted alongside the South Australian Athletic Association's annual Burnside Athletic Carnival, featuring the iconic Kensington Gift race. Find out more about this free event at https://www.burnside.sa.gov.au/Whats-On/Public-Events/Burnside-Athletic-Carnival

Photograph: The new Olympic Sports Field, 1965. Burnside Local History Collection.