Just over seven months before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the major projects are about to be completed. First completed work, the Yves-du-Manoir stadium in Colombes was unveiled this Monday, December 18, 2023. Its role as host of the men’s and women’s field hockey tournaments next summer allows us to recall the charged history of a key location of the 1924 Games, the last ones organized in France.
The noise of the latest construction equipment can still be heard in the background, mixed with the cries of the first schoolchildren active on the synthetic fields.
However, there is no reason to disturb the key handover ceremony for the new Yves-du-Manoir stadium in Colombes. The big day after two years of work for the first equipment for the Olympic Games, delivered a few days ahead of schedule.
Nerve center of the 1924 Olympics
Its overhaul is doubly symbolic, as Georges Siffredi, president of the Hauts-de-Seine department, recalls: “ In 1924, the Games were already held here, so to be hosting the 2024 Games again, 100 years later, and to be the first venue delivered, I think we can be proud of that. It is a legendary stadium which has been reborn and which, over the years, has needed work. The 2024 Olympics were an opportunity to completely renovate this stadium. »
Steeped in history, the Yves-du-Manoir stadium was in fact the nerve center of the 1924 Olympic Games. It also hosted the final of the 1938 World Cup and numerous rugby matches.
If the two disciplines have their own refurbished playing areas, field hockey is being invited for the first time on three of its lawns during the Olympic Games.
“ Bridge between our past and the future of sport »
A source of pride for Isabelle Jouin, president of the French hockey federation: “ For us, it’s a lot of emotions too. Because indeed, we are the only Olympic Games site to have this history. Field hockey is a sport that has been an Olympic sport since 1920. So it is also important that we are part of history, because it is a bridge between our past, our heritage, and then the future of sport in France, which needs to evolve. Both in practices, which are less organized practices, or competitive practices. And this site will do both. »
More than 400 athletes will take to the fields from July 27 to August 9, 2024, during the men’s and women’s tournaments. While 300,000 spectators are expected during the 15 days of competition. The return to fame for a centenary: the Yves-du-Manoir stadium.
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