Paris 2024 Olympics: In Colombes, the only site to have hosted the 1924 Games, history resumes thanks to field hockey

Vingt-deux mois de travaux ont été nécessaires pour permettre à Colombes de vivre une seconde jeunesse au Jeux de Paris 2024. EPA – Teresa Suarez

The stadium, which has hosted the field hockey events since Saturday, July 27, is the only site of these Olympic Games to have hosted those of 1924. A slice of legend.

Since Saturday, they have taken possession of the place. Orange wigs, red jerseys, British or Indian flags. Under the drizzle, are these supporters from the four corners of the globe, who have come to watch the Olympic field hockey tournament, aware of the history that contemplates them in this stadium in Colombes??

Located in the northwest of Paris, between slightly shabby apartment blocks and small town houses, the enclosure has admittedly undergone such a facelift that you have to be in the know or very observant to notice it. At the entrance, a small brick building, with an old wooden porch, nevertheless recalls the glory days of the place and its link with the Olympic legend since it is the only one of the Paris 2024 sites to have experienced Paris 1924.

Pelé, l’ “Flying Scotsman”, the Blues, boxing…

During the 8th Olympiad of the modern era, even before taking the name of the rugby player Yves-du-Manoir, the stadium had hosted the opening ceremony. On July 5, 1924, on the ashes of a first global conflict that had shaken Europe, the world had observed Colombes and its thousands of athletes.

Among them, “the’Flying Scotsman”, Eric Liddel. An outstanding athlete but a fervent believer, he preferred to give up gold in the 100m rather than miss Sunday mass. No matter, he lined up in the 400m to win the gold medal and the world record. Passed to posterity, his life inspired the four-Oscar-winning film, “Chariots of Fire”.

This indelible mark, Dutch or Andorran fans today will perhaps pay attention to it when turning around a stand since there is a commemorative plaque on it ;honor of Liddel was installed last March.

She could have rubbed shoulders with others, as the Colombes stadium has seen so many great names pass through over the last century. From Cruyff to Pelé, for his only match in France with the Brazilian Seleçao in 1963, to the first XV of France that defeated the All Blacks in 1954 and even a World Cup final in 1938 between Hungary and Italy, victorious under Guiseppe Meazza: Yves-du-Manoir has long shone in France and abroad.

The French football team, for its part, played 79 matches there, when the stadium did not have room for a boxing ring for a world championship in front of 40,000 spectators. So many legendary pages that have marked several generations.

A "French sporting heritage" restored

“For those who doubt the importance of this stadium, they only need to pronounce its name in front of a sports fan who has had the chance to play or watch a match there and then observe their reactions. There are looks that do not deceive”, writes Michaël Delépine, in his book dedicated to the stadium, “The Sleeping Beauty”.

The title refers to the continuation and the end of a golden era, marked in 1972 by the construction of the Parc des Princes. Faced with the passage of time, three of the four stands were subsequently razed. This did not prevent Racing Métro 92 from experiencing the rise to the Top 14 there in 2009 and from playing there until 2017 and the construction of the Paris Défense Arena.

But Colombes gradually sank into oblivion and dilapidation. “The stadium was in its original state. I can't wait to see what it's like now”, enthuses Amar, a former regular at the venue.

One hundred years after its first Olympic Games, Colombes has indeed found a second youth. After 22 months of work, and more than 90 million euros spent in particular by the Hauts-de-Seine department, two new synthetic hockey pitches, four football pitches and three rugby pitches, a new athletics ring and a 1,000-seat grandstand have emerged. They have given new life to these 18 hectares where the historic stands (6,000 seats) have been brought up to standard and stand alongside temporary ones for the duration of the Games.

“It's a wonderful nod to History, to French sporting heritage”, insisted Tony Estanguet, head of Paris 2024, at the time of the inauguration in March. The world is rushing there again. It will remain there until August 9 before giving way to the headquarters of the French Field Hockey Federation. Who will continue to make Colombes live.

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