Upamanyu Biswas
Netflix’s ‘Olympo‘ centers on the ruthless nature of elite sports through the halls of HPC Pyrenees, a sports training center where Spain’s young athletic talents are morphed from rough diamonds into potential superstars in the making through a demanding regime. While the institute recruits talents from around the nation, it primarily focuses on three sporting fields – artistic swimming, track and field, and rugby. These three different sports are explored through the eyes of our central characters, Amaia, Zoe, Cristian, and Roque, who each face a retinue of challenges while trying to make a name for themselves, especially when it comes to the privilege of landing a great sponsorship deal for the Olympics. To that end, HPC Pyrenees serves as the primary setting for the series, making it a prominent part of the story on both a thematic and plot level.
HPC Pyrenees is a Fictional Sports Center at the Heart of the Story
The HPC Pyrenees, also known as High Performance Center Pyrenees, is a fictional sports institute crafted by scriptwriters Jan Matheu, Laia Foguet, and Ibai Abad. Filming for the Netflix series essentially took place in Spain, specifically around the regions of Madrid, Huesca, and possibly Pyrenees. As such, the scenes featuring HPC Pyrenees may have been filmed at Hotel Continental Balneario de Panticosa at Carretera Balneario, Km 10, 22661 Panticosa, Huesca. Meanwhile, additional scenes of interior and outdoor sports facilities may have been shot in Madrid. Thus, the crew likely had to stitch together several shots from separate locales to authentically bring HPC Pyrenees to life. This was crucial because of the institute’s state-of-the-art offerings when it comes to sports environments.
While developing HPC Pyrenees’ in the script phase, vague inspiration may have been drawn from other Spanish sports centers, such as the High-Performance Sports Center of León and the High-Performance Center in Sant Cugat del Vallès, among many more. The former is a comprehensive sports facility fitted with all kinds of sports infrastructure like an athletics stadium, a 100-meter running track, a shotput area, and a pole vault area. It offers many amenities and programs for individuals who wish to undergo personalized training or team practice. As such, the similarities between the León-based institute and HPC Pyrenees are plain to see, including their similar-sounding names. However, the two are different as one is situated in the city of León, while the fictional center of the show is set in the Pyrenees mountain range between Spain and France.
Another intriguing factor that may have influenced the development of HPC Pyrenees is the general fears, anxieties, and risks plaguing sports in general when it comes to issues of doping. In the show, this becomes an integral theme because of a large-scale conspiracy centering on institutionalized doping within the halls of HPC Pyrenees. As such, the overtone of doping-related incidents hangs over the institute and the narrative at large. While it is widely recognized in the show’s universe as a highly reputed center, its actual interiors are defined by intense competition, jealousy, politics, and a toxic atmosphere where unreasonable demands are encouraged by coaches on their young charges. These elements are likely a dramatization by the show’s creative team to lend more credence to the social dynamics at play, which goes back to its fictional roots.
Read More: Is Olympo a True Story? Is the Netflix Show Based on Real Life?
