It was with great fanfare that the inauguration of the Yves-du-Manoir departmental stadium in Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) took place on Tuesday March 19, after renovations. The president of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, was present alongside the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the president of the Hauts-de-Seine department, Georges Siffredi, and the president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse.

“It’s a wonderful nod to history, to French sporting heritage,” declared triple Olympic medalist Tony Estanguet during this ceremony. The Colombes stadium is in fact the only sports site that hosted the Paris Olympic Games in 1924 to be used again a hundred years later. During the 2024 Olympics, the venue will be the venue for field hockey events.

One of the fields at the Yves-du-Manoir departmental stadium in Colombes, which will be used for field hockey events during the 2024 Olympic Games. Miguel Medina, AFP

For this next Olympic event, the century-old stadium was given a complete renovation over 22 months: two lighted synthetic field hockey fields were built, one with a 1,000-seat stand. The historic 6,000-seat stand on the main pitch, a vestige of the original stadium, has been brought up to standard. It will be supplemented by temporary stands installed for the Games.

The nerve center of the 1924 Olympic Games

A century ago, the Colombes stadium was the epicenter of the Paris Games. It was notably the scene of the opening ceremony, on July 5, 1924. "It's a bit strange to imagine things, but there were 20,000 people standing and squeezed between the two lighting pylons" , says Michaël Delépine, doctor in history and author of the book “Le Bel Dormi. History of the Colombes stadium” (ed. Atlande). “It was the nerve center of the Games. Just behind it, there was the first Olympic village. It was a bit Spartan with small wooden barracks,” specifies this site specialist.

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games at the Colombes stadium, July 5, 1924. © Gallica, BNF

During this 8th Olympiad of the modern era, 3,089 athletes including 135 women, representing 44 nations, compete in 17 sports. The Colombes stadium hosts football, horse riding, rugby, gymnastics and especially athletics events. At the time, it was the “Flying Finns” who dominated this discipline. Paavo Nurmi and his compatriot Ville Ritola became legends by winning five and four gold medals respectively in Paris.

Members of the Finnish athletics team at the 1924 Olympics, including Ville Ritola and Paavo Nurmi. © Old postcard

Tribute to “the Flying Scotsman” Eric Liddell

From these athletics events, History has also remembered the rivalry between British sprinters Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell. On the occasion of the inaugural week of the Colombes stadium, a special tribute will be paid to him on Friday March 22 during a ceremony. "Eric Liddell marked the Olympic Games because he had given up running on Sunday for religious reasons. Knowing that he would not be able to compete in the 100 meters event for which he was one of the favorites, he decided to compete in another event, the 400 meters. He not only won the gold medal in this event but broke the world record in the discipline", explains Stéphane Pailler, consul general of France in Edinburgh and Glasgow, to the initiative of this event.

A plaque will thus be placed in memory of this Scottish athlete, son of a missionary, fervent Christian, whose story inspired the four-Oscar-winning Hugh Hudson film "Chariots of Fire", released in 1981. Having become a pastor, Eric Liddell died in 1945 in a Japanese prison camp in China, where he was held as a civilian during World War II. Stephen Shin's feature film "Wings of Victory" (2017) recounts this tragic episode. “His sporting and human legacy remains a symbol of friendship between France, Scotland and the United Kingdom. A legend. A legacy. A source of inspiration”, we can read on this commemorative monument.

Scottish athlete Eric Liddell after his victory in the 400 meters at the 1924 Olympic Games. © Wikimedia

After the success of the 1924 Games, the Colombes site – which was officially named the Yves-du-Manoir Olympic stadium from 1928 in homage to a Racing Club de France rugby player who died at the controls of his plane – became an essential place for French sport. “Colombes attracted the greatest sportsmen and the most renowned spectators,” summarizes Michaël Delépine.

The venue was the scene of 17 world records between 1924 and 1980, 42 Coupe de France finals between 1924 and 1971 and 79 matches for the French football team. It also hosted the final of the Football World Cup in 1938 - won by Italy against Hungary -, the first victory of the French XV against the New Zealand All Blacks in 1954, the only match of King Pelé on French territory with the Seleçao in 1963, the quarter-final of the European Cup on March 5, 1969 between Ajax of Johan Cruyff and Benfica with 63,638 spectators (record attendance) or the Bouttier-Monzon clash at the world boxing championship in 1972 in front of 40,000 spectators.

Footballer Pelé (center) during the match between Brazil and France at the Colombes stadium, April 28, 1963. The match was won by the Seleçao (2-3) thanks to a hat-trick from the Brazilian star striker . AFP

A stadium that is reborn

Having fallen into disuse after the advent of the new Parc des Princes in 1972, the stadium enjoyed a second life at the turn of the 2000s after its sale by the Racing Club de France to the department, which developed the practice of amateur sport there.

The Colombes stadium will regain its former fame by hosting the field hockey events during the Paris 2024 Games which will take place there from July 27 to August 9. “It is obviously moving to see this place host a new Olympiad. This venue, sometimes cataloged as a stadium of the past and which has not hosted a major event for several decades, proves that we can write a new page , one of the most beautiful in its history, 100 years later", relishes Michaël Delépine.

After the Games, the 18-hectare site, which also has football and rugby fields as well as an athletics oval, will house the headquarters of the French Field Hockey Federation. It must benefit "residents, with sports practices open to associations, to the school public and perhaps also to academics", already assured the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, during the inauguration.

For Michaël Delépine, the story of the Yves-du-Manoir stadium has only just begun: "We can imagine that in decades, there will still be sport in Colombes and, hopefully, high-level sport level and practice for amateurs."

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