Visiting the Olympic Muesum

On Sunday Kevin and I decided to check out the German Sports and Olympic Museum in Cologne. Even though we couldn't read everything (the exhibit overviews and main attractions were in English, but descriptions of each individual piece were in German. Overall, though, I would say it was worth the trip.

We purchased the combination ticket, which gave us entry into the museum's special exhibit about the Beijing games. I don't recommend this portion of the museum unless you are able to read German or are visiting with children. (At the end of the special exhibit there is a section where kids can try out some Olympic-style events, such as jumping and climbing on ropes and mats with images of the bird's nest stadium in the background or wrestle with a life-sized dummy.)

The permanent collection is upstairs and covers the history of sports in Germany. On display are some interesting artifacts. My favorites were the "sports corsets" and a series of lockers that highlight famous German athletes. (Did you know the world-record holder for ultra-triathlons — among men and women — is a German woman?)

Special rooms covered the Berlin and Munich games. Both are pretty somber places. The Berlin room deals mainly with the Nazi presence, and the Munich room has a large black box with audio recordings of worldwide radio casts reporting the terrorist attacks on the Israeli team.

There were also a number of interactive exhibits, such as a boxing ring, a long jump, gymnastics’ horses, and weightlifting equipment. Also, on the roof there is a tennis court, basketball hoop, and small soccer field. Equipment is available for children’s use.

The one complaint we had was that since the museum is not air conditioned, parts of the museum were very stuff on a hot summer day.