after

When the Olympic flame was extinguished on 19 February 1984, Sarajevo was internationally hailed as the host of the "best organised" Winter Games in history. In the decades that followed, the city’s Olympic heritage would face the extremes of a tourism boom, total physical destruction during the Siege of Sarajevo, and a slow, complex journey toward reconstruction and memory.

Timeline at a glance

  • 19 February 1984: The Closing Ceremony is held at Zetra Hall; the IOC declares the Games a "wonderful success."
  • 1984–1985: The newly formed ZOI’84 agency records nearly 100,000 hotel stays in the first post-Olympic season.
  • May 1992: Zetra Hall is shelled and burned down during the early stages of the Siege of Sarajevo.
  • February 1994: IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch returns to the besieged city for the 10th anniversary; a ceasefire is called.
  • 1995: Dayton Peace Agreement divides the Olympic mountains between two entities.
  • March 1999: The rebuilt Zetra Hall reopens with international funding.
  • 2002: Bosnia and Herzegovina submits an unsuccessful bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
  • April 2018: The Trebević Cable Car, destroyed during the war, is fully restored and reopened to the public.
  • February 2019: Sarajevo hosts the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), reigniting the Olympic spirit.
  • June 2022: The joint bid between Barcelona and Sarajevo for the 2030 Winter Olympics is withdrawn by the Spanish Olympic Committee.
  • February 2024: The city marks the 40th anniversary of the Games with gala events and exhibitions.

“Doviđenja, drago Sarajevo”: The immediate verdict

On the evening of 19 February 1984, a capacity crowd of 8,500 people gathered in Zetra Hall for the Closing Ceremony. The mood was one of triumphant relief. Following a figure-skating exhibition featuring gold medallists Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the ceremony adhered to strict protocol but carried deep emotional weight. Forty-nine flag bearers entered the ice, led by the host nation, Yugoslavia, and ending with Great Britain.

At centre ice, Branko Mikulić, President of the Organising Committee, stood beside Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Samaranch presented Mikulić with the Olympic Order in gold, the IOC’s highest honour, acknowledging an event free of the boycotts and organizational chaos that had plagued previous Games. Samaranch’s farewell words, spoken in Serbo-Croatian, resonated across the city: “Doviđenja, drago Sarajevo” (Goodbye, dear Sarajevo).

The international verdict was instant and nearly unanimous. The press, which had arrived months earlier with skepticism regarding Yugoslavia’s ability to host, departed with praise. UPI’s sports editor called the Games “without wrinkle,” while France’s L’Equipe described them as an “organizational feat.” The sheer logistics of the departure were a final test passed with flying colours: on the day following the ceremony, Sarajevo Airport handled roughly 70 flights and processed 10,000 departing guests and athletes without incident.

For the hosts, the immediate aftermath was a period of intense pride. Local newspapers like Oslobođenje reported that Sarajevo had “passed its greatest exam,” noting that the warmth of the citizens (taxi drivers refusing fares, waiters refusing tips, and volunteers clearing snow by hand) had been the true gold medal of the event. As the Olympic flame was extinguished at Koševo Stadium, the city believed it had permanently secured its place on the map of world-class winter resorts.

The “holiday” years: Tourism and civic legacy (1984–1991)

Following the closing ceremonies, the management of the city’s new assets passed to a newly created agency, ZOI’84. Tasked with turning the Olympic venues into a sustainable tourist economy, the agency aggressively marketed Sarajevo as an affordable alternative to the Alps. In the winter of 1984–85, ZOI’84 worked with state tour operators to offer all-inclusive ski packages (including airfare from New York) for as little as $598, roughly half the cost of a similar trip to France or Switzerland.

The strategy initially worked. In the first post-Olympic season, the agency registered nearly 100,000 hotel stays, with more than half coming from foreign tourists. The Games also fundamentally altered local lifestyle habits. Before 1984, winter sports were the domain of a select few; by 1988, local participation had reportedly increased fivefold. Thousands of residents bought skis, and a municipal program allowed schoolchildren to use the Olympic skating rink at Zetra Hall for free, funded by renting out the facility's freezer storage basement.

Beyond the slopes, the Games left a profound urban legacy. To prepare for 1984, the city had overhauled its infrastructure, including a massive project to switch the city’s heating system from coal to gas, significantly reducing Sarajevo’s notorious winter smog. The city also gained a modernized airport, new ring roads, and the iconic yellow Holiday Inn. Vice Mayor Ante Markotić later noted that without the Olympics, the city "would have had to wait 20 years" for such developments.

However, the tourism boom was short-lived. While 1985 marked a peak in foreign visitors, numbers began to dwindle in subsequent years as Yugoslavia faced a deepening economic crisis. By the late 1980s, the country was struggling with staggering inflation (reaching 2,000 percent by 1989) and mounting foreign debt. Although the venues remained active, hosting roughly 40 international events between 1984 and 1988, the maintenance of the massive Olympic infrastructure became increasingly difficult as the political and economic stability of the federation began to fracture.

Descent into conflict: Olympic sites as battlegrounds (1992–1995)

When the Bosnian War erupted in April 1992, the geography of the Olympics became the geography of the siege. The mountains that had once hosted the world’s athletes (Trebević, Igman, Bjelašnica, and Jahorina) were transformed into strategic high ground for artillery and sniper positions.

The physical destruction of the Olympic legacy was rapid and deliberate.

  • Zetra Hall: In May 1992, just two months before the Barcelona Summer Olympics, Serb forces shelled Zetra Hall. The venue, which had hosted the closing ceremony, burned to the ground. In a grim inversion of its purpose, the wooden seats from the arena were salvaged by residents to craft coffins for the war dead. The practice fields outside were converted into makeshift cemeteries as traditional graveyards became too dangerous to access.
  • The Bobsled Track: Mount Trebević, situated immediately above the city, became a primary artillery stronghold for Bosnian Serb forces. The concrete bobsled and luge track was turned into a defensive fortification, with holes drilled into the turns to serve as firing positions for snipers targeting the city below.
  • The Villages: The Press Village at Dobrinja, built to house the international press in 1984, became a "siege within a siege." Cut off from the rest of the city, its residents (living in the apartment blocks once used by journalists) faced acute starvation and constant shelling. The main Olympic Village at Mojmilo also saw fierce fighting and significant destruction.
  • The Mountains: On Mount Igman, the ski jumping venue and the Hotel Igman were destroyed as the mountain became the only precarious lifeline road in and out of the besieged city. Conversely, Mount Jahorina (site of the women’s alpine events) remained under Bosnian Serb control throughout the war; its Olympic hotel, the Bistrica, was even used as a meeting place for the Bosnian Serb parliament.

By the summer of 1992, the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina published a booklet titled Do You Remember Sarajevo? to take to the Barcelona Games. It featured side-by-side photographs: the pristine venues of 1984 contrasted with the smoking ruins of 1992.

The tenth anniversary: A truce that failed (1994)

February 1994 marked the tenth anniversary of the Games, a milestone that arrived during the darkest days of the siege. Just days before the anniversary, a mortar shell struck the Markale market, killing 68 civilians. Despite the violence, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch insisted on visiting the city.

Arriving on 14 February 1994, Samaranch toured the ruins of Zetra Hall. Witnesses noted that upon reaching center ice, where he had joyfully closed the Games a decade earlier, he was too overcome with emotion to speak. The IOC had called for an "Olympic Truce" during the concurrent Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, but while a temporary ceasefire was negotiated locally, the siege continued. During this visit, Samaranch made a solemn pledge: the Olympic movement would rebuild Zetra as soon as the war ended.

Reconstruction and the divided mountains

The end of the war in late 1995 brought a fragile peace but left the Olympic infrastructure in ruins. The 1995 Dayton Agreement divided the country (and its Olympic heritage) into two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. This political division meant the mountain venues were split: Bjelašnica, Igman and Trebević lay within the Federation, while Jahorina fell under the jurisdiction of Republika Srpska.

Rebuilding Zetra

True to his wartime promise, Juan Antonio Samaranch spearheaded the reconstruction of Zetra Hall. The project cost approximately $20 million, with the IOC contributing $11.5 million and additional funds coming from the City of Barcelona, the European Union, and other international donors. The reconstructed venue officially reopened in March 1999. It became a symbol of resilience, once again hosting major sports and cultural events, including the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Rise of Jahorina

In the neighboring entity, the Olympic Centre Jahorina pursued an aggressive modernization strategy. Unencumbered by destruction and the level of post-war debt that paralyzed the Federation's agency, Jahorina attracted significant government and foreign investment to rebrand itself as a premier regional resort.

Recent upgrades include a flagship gondola lift designed by Pininfarina and a network of new lifts, such as the "Trnovo" lift completed for the 2024/2025 season, expanding the resort's capacity significantly. It currently stands as the most modern ski resort in the country.

The Struggles of ZOI’84: The "Invisible" Venues

While Zetra was rebuilt, reviving the mountain venues in the Federation proved far more complex. The state-owned enterprise ZOI’84 faced a difficult transition to a market economy. For years, the company was paralyzed by millions in accumulated debts, blocked bank accounts, and an oversized workforce often resulting from political appointments rather than operational needs. Workers frequently went months without pay, leading to strikes and a stagnation of infrastructure maintenance.

However, the biggest obstacle to reconstruction was not just financial, but bureaucratic. For decades, key Olympic sites were trapped in a legal limbo, preventing any serious investment:

  • The Land Registry Problem: Massive investments require clear ownership, but the Bobsled Track on Trebević and the ski jumps on Malo Polje were never properly inscribed in the land registry. Legally, the concrete bobsled track is classified as "forest" (šuma), and the ski jumps are caught in unresolved property disputes with the Municipality of Hadžići. Because ZOI'84 did not have clear paper ownership, they could not legally issue tenders for reconstruction.
  • Bjelašnica: Despite these hurdles, progress was made on Bjelašnica. Progress was slow at first as efforts were focused on clearing mines and repairing ski lifts, however, a major investment cycle began around 2020 to modernize the mountain. New management focused on financial consolidation, installing a modern six-seater chairlift and an extensive new snowmaking system worth over 11 million KM (approx. €5.6 million) to ensure a reliable winter season.
  • Hotel Igman: Perhaps the most potent symbol of the post-war stagnation is the Hotel Igman. Once a brutalist architectural marvel dominating the Veliko Polje plateau, it has stood as a hollow, fire-blackened skeleton since 1993. After thirteen failed attempts to privatize the ruin, ZOI’84 managed to finally sell it in February 2022 to "The Place," a consortium of investors, for 5.1 million KM (approx. €2.6 million). Despite promises of revitalization, as of early 2026, no physical progress has been made. The site remains a ghost hotel, caught in a limbo of bureaucratic hurdles.

The 2010 Bid

In a bold attempt to reunite the country through sport and accelerate reconstruction, the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted a bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. The bid was widely seen as symbolic, an effort to "take people's minds away from war," as one official put it.

However, the reality of a divided political system, a shattered economy, and infrastructure still in disrepair meant the bid had no chance of success. The IOC did not shortlist Sarajevo, and the Games were awarded to Vancouver. Despite the failure, the bid highlighted a lingering, unifying nostalgia for 1984 across all ethnic lines.

The 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF): A Triumph of Unity

Undeterred by the rejection of the 2010 Winter Olympics bid, local organisers refocused their ambitions on the next generation of athletes. The Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina saw a youth festival not just as a sporting event, but as a vehicle to repair the fractured infrastructure and political divides left by the war. This vision materialized in a bid for the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF).

The Road to 2019: The Strategic Swap

The path to hosting the games was not linear. The Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OC BiH) initially bid for the 2015 edition but narrowly lost to the Austrian-Liechtenstein bid by a single vote. Undeterred, they bid again and were awarded the hosting rights for the 2017 festival in December 2012.

However, as the 2017 date approached, the project faced critical hurdles. By June 2015, the European Olympic Committees (EOC) expressed grave concern regarding the lack of progress in preparations, citing insufficient political and financial support from government levels at that time. Facing the potential withdrawal of the candidature, a diplomatic solution was proposed: a hosting swap.

Turkey, represented by the city of Erzurum, was scheduled to host the 2019 edition but was prepared to host earlier. In a display of Olympic solidarity, an agreement was reached to swap dates. Erzurum successfully hosted the 2017 edition, giving Sarajevo and East Sarajevo two additional years to consolidate resources, secure government guarantees, and complete infrastructure projects. The official amendment formalizing this swap was signed in Prague in November 2015, setting the new dates for February 2019.

The Return of the Olympic Flame

The festival took place from February 10 to February 15, 2019. The event marked a historic moment as the Olympic flame returned to the same Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium for the first time in 35 years. The Opening Ceremony, attended by over 25,000 spectators, featured the lighting of the "Flame of Peace" by Larisa Cerić, Bosnia’s most decorated judoka.

The event gathered 46 National Olympic Committees, with 911 athletes and over 500 team officials participating. The competition featured eight sports held across venues that had been renovated or rebuilt for the occasion:

  • Alpine Skiing: Jahorina & Bjelašnica
  • Biathlon: Dvorišta
  • Cross Country: Veliko Polje (Igman)
  • Ice Hockey: Zetra Olympic Hall
  • Figure Skating & Short Track: Skenderija
  • Curling: Pale (Peki Hall)
  • Snowboard: Bjelašnica

The event was a resounding success. The mascot, Groodvy (a stylized snowball), became a symbol of joy, and in December 2019, the EYOF Sarajevo & East Sarajevo project was awarded the Peace and Sport Award for "Diplomatic Action of the Year." This accolade recognized the festival's role in fostering cooperation between the two cities and promoting peace and reconciliation in a complex political environment.

Modern memory: Restoration, reinvention, and new energy

In the 21st century, Sarajevo’s Olympic legacy has shifted from a narrative of loss to one of active reinvention. While the scars of the 1990s remain visible, a new generation of citizens, athletes, and international enthusiasts is reclaiming the venues, transforming them into spaces of education, adrenaline, and renewed sporting excellence.

Reconnecting the city

A profound milestone in this recovery was the reopening of the Trebević Cable Car in April 2018. Destroyed early in the siege, the new system symbolically and physically reconnected the city center to the mountain that had once served as an artillery stronghold. To honour the 1984 legacy, five of the new cabins were painted in the colours of the Olympic rings, carrying tourists and locals back to the peak in just minutes.

The Barcelona Hope (2030)

In 2022, Sarajevo was briefly poised to return to the Olympic stage as part of a joint bid with Barcelona for the 2030 Winter Games. The proposal involved fully renovating the Trebević bobsled track and the Malo Polje ski jumps to host sliding and Nordic events, as Spain lacked these specialized venues. However, the bid was withdrawn in June 2022 due to political disagreements between the Spanish regions of Catalonia and Aragon, leaving the reconstruction plans for Sarajevo's icons once again on hold.

Life returns to the Bobsled Track

The concrete track on Trebević, despite officially being "a forest", has experienced a remarkable grassroots revival.

  • Adrenaline and Wheels: The track's potential for non-ice sports was recognized as early as 2007 with the Red Bull Hot Run, where elite rollerbladers raced down the concrete chute at speeds nearing 95 km/h.
  • The Luge Team: In the years that followed, the track was kept alive by local lugers, led by former Olympian Senad Omanović and young athlete Mirza Nikolajev. They manually cleared the overgrown debris and patched the concrete to use the track for summer training on wheeled sleds. Their defiant dedication to the sport was immortalized in the 2025 documentary The Track, which profiled their struggle to compete on the world stage without a frozen home track.
  • Open Air Museum: In 2025, the track was further transformed by Czech enthusiast Mirko Tomašek. Shocked by the lack of information at the site, he installed a series of educational boards along the route. This "Open Air Museum" uses QR codes and audio guides to teach visitors about the 1984 glory, the wartime destruction, and the city's resilience, ensuring the site serves as a historical lesson rather than just a canvas for graffiti.

New challenges on Igman

While the ski jumps on Malo Polje have not hosted winter competitions in decades, they have found a grueling new purpose. In 2021 and 2022, the venue hosted the Red Bull 400, a global race series where competitors sprint 400 meters up the steep landing slope of the Olympic ski jump. The event has turned a dormant monument into a test of endurance, drawing hundreds of participants to the historic site.

Elite racing returns to Bjelašnica

Perhaps the most significant step in restoring Sarajevo’s status as a winter sports capital has occurred on Mount Bjelašnica. Following millions in investment by the Canton of Sarajevo and ZOI’84 to upgrade snowmaking and vertical transport, the mountain successfully met the rigorous standards of the International Ski Federation (FIS). In recent years, Bjelašnica has hosted the FIS Europa Cup in the Super-G discipline, bringing elite international men’s skiing competitions back to the Olympic mountain for the first time since the late 1980s.

The 1984 Winter Olympics fundamentally transformed Sarajevo from a regional capital into a global brand, leaving a physical legacy that allowed it to function as a modern metropolis. Today, that legacy has evolved. It is no longer defined solely by the nostalgia of 1984 or the tragedy of the 1990s, but by a dynamic "culture of remembrance" where ruins are repurposed, international races return, and the Olympic spirit serves as a resilient foundation for the future.