one hundred years after the last Olympic Games in the capital, what has become of the infrastructure of the 1924 Olympic Games?

A watchword, “legacy”. If the organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games hope to see their infrastructures last over time, those of the 1924 Games have mostly survived and are still used by Parisian clubs. The most important, the Yves-du-Manoir departmental stadium in Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), where the opening ceremony took place in 1924, will even host a second edition of the Olympic Games, with the hockey events on grass. It was inaugurated on Tuesday March 19, after major renovation work. Three other infrastructures still exist.

The Yves-du-Manoir stadium in Colombes (92)

“By its architect’s own admission, it was not a stadium that was meant to last”says Michaël Delépine, author of the book The sleeping beauty: history of the Colombes stadium. However, the venue will host the Olympic Games for the second time, a hundred years after the first. In 1924, the Yves-du-Manoir stadium was the main venue for the event, and hosted rugby and football from May, two months before the opening ceremony, as well as the athletics events .

However, it was not the organizers’ preferred solution. “It is a site which existed before the Games, since it was a racetrack at the end of the 19th century and an athletic stadium from 1907. It also hosted international football and rugby competitions. it was used for the 1924 Paris Olympics, it was because the organizing committee and the Parisian administration did not agree on the construction of a large stadium in Parissays Michaël Delépine. Two years before the Games, the Racing Club de France, which rented the site, offered to manage the construction of a large stadium itself, which was immediately accepted by the French Olympic Committee.. The first Olympic village will be installed a few hundred meters away, around sixty wooden huts with electricity and running water. A currency exchange office, post office, laundry, newspaper kiosk and hairdressing salon are also on site.

The Colombes stadium then became the largest French stadium of the time, equipped with innovative equipment, such as loudspeakers, a tunnel to access the pitch without going through the athletics track, and an area dedicated to the press. or a notice board. And for 50 years, it will be the national stadium, which will see the greatest figures of sport, French and international, such as Emil Zatopek, Michel Jazy, Pelé and Lev Yachine. “It is a stadium which, each time its destruction or replacement has been announced, is reborn from its ashes. When Paris obtained the organization of the Games in 2017, renovation projects had been going on for 30 years. without success, and the stadium is finally transformed”continues Michaël Delépine.

Some of its stands, closed to the public in the 1980s, were destroyed, as were the weighing machines. The historic stand has been preserved and renovated and will welcome the public for field hockey events this summer. “The department, owner of the place, even financed work to find the original colors, ocher and blue. The public will sit in a stand which has undergone few modifications. Rows have been added, and obviously , they are not going to be in the wooden benches of 1924. But they are going to be in the same atmosphere as at the time with posts which can obstruct the view., explains Michaël Delépine. Two new buildings have also been constructed, including one which will serve as an annex stadium for hockey, with offices which will accommodate the French federation. Temporary stands will also be installed this summer to increase the site’s capacity.

The Georges Vallerey swimming pool in Paris (20th century)

Formerly the Tourelles swimming pool, before being renamed in homage to swimmer Georges Vallerey, bronze medalist at the 1948 Olympics and multiple European record holder, the infrastructure was built for the 1924 Olympics. Located in the 20th district of the capital, it hosted the swimming, diving and water polo events in its 50-meter pool, the first of this length in France. Other “firsts” for the Olympic Games at the time: the pool was divided into water lines using corks and the starting blocks were raised. The Tourelles swimming pool will thus be the scene of the exploits of the American Johnny Weissmuller, triple gold medalist, before his reconversion into an actor and his famous incarnation of Tarzan in the cinema.

The Olympic rings on the facade are unmistakable, and they are now also present inside this swimming pool which will host the training of the Olympic delegations in 2024. For this, its retractable roof, installed in 1989, was changed to benefit of a new compound of more durable materials. The lighting and water treatment systems were also modernized, for a total amount of 12.5 million euros, co-financed by the city of Paris and Solideo (Olympic works delivery company). In 2024, the swimming events will take place at the Défense Arena in Nanterre.

The “La Cipale” Vélodrome in Vincennes

Nicknamed “La Cipale” as an abbreviation of “municipal velodrome”, then more officially named “Vélodrome Jacques Anquetil” after the latter’s death in 1987, the Bois de Vincennes site can boast of having hosted two editions of the Olympic Games, in 1900 and 1924. A hundred years ago, it was the scene of track cycling events, while the Vélodrome d’Hiver, destroyed after experiencing one of the darkest pages in French history during the Second World War, hosted weightlifting, fencing and boxing. Classified as a historic monument, “la Cipale” is preserved in a state close to that of its past, during which it was also the place of the finish of the Tour de France, between 1968 and 1974, with the five coronations of Eddy Merckx .

Its Eiffel model stands are still standing, and the track has undergone some modifications. “Less than ten years ago, the ring was modified in its layout, without changing its size, because the pitch is now open to rugby competitions and the FFR required a modification of the diameter of the track to respect the dimensions of a rugby field”, explains Bertrand du Tourtier, the oldest member of the Velo club of Parisian veterans, one of the track’s two resident clubs. Uncovered stands at the top of the turns have also been removed even if some traces of their existence persist. 500 meters long, the Cipale track no longer meets Olympic standards, since that of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, like many other modern enclosures, is now 250 meters long.

The Chiquito De Cambo pediment in Paris (16th century)

A hundred years later, the symbol would have been beautiful, but the candidacy of Basque pelota to be an additional sport at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was not accepted. In 1924, Basque pelota was a demonstration sport, as in Mexico in 1968 and in Barcelona in 1992, which gave rise to competitions, but which was not included in the Olympic Games.

The meetings, in which only two nations participated, France and Spain, took place at the Chiquito de Cambo pediment, in the 16^e district of Paris. Now shared by several Basque pelota teams from the Ile-de-France region, the pediment has just been renovated, as has the cancha (the playing area). The stands were also destroyed to be replaced by four padel courts. “The disappearance of the stands is damaging for the hosting of large Basque pelota games. A few years ago, they were full and we could attend games where the elite of French pelota played. But we must recognize that the notoriety of our sport has declined in Ile de France for several years”regrets Alain-Yves Detroyes, president of the Paris Euskal Pilota club.