Ponds Forge was opened in 1991 as a venue for the Summer Universiade, which the city hosted that year. In the 1994 UK Sports Design Awards Ponds Forge was highly commended in the overall category, and for the use of steel in its construction it won the British Steel Award. The name "Ponds Forge" is borrowed from the steel works that formerly occupied this site and a high anvil has been left in situ next to the building, partly because it would have been too expensive to move it. The River Sheaf runs under the site and flooded the car park on 21 December 1991, shutting the complex for 6 days. Proof of this can be found on platform Five of Sheffield railway station, because the Sheaf also runs under that, and it also flooded at the same time. A piece of debris from "The Flood" is displayed there and the plaque mounted on it has the same date. In the 2000s Ponds Forge was a venue (along with the nearby Don Valley Stadium) for Channel Four's 'The Games', in which celebrities competed against each other in a wide range of events.