“We will never be ready!” : a hundred years ago, when Paris hosted the Olympic Games, the controversies surrounding the organization were already numerous and surprisingly familiar to those raised in recent weeks. Back to the future.
Creation of the Olympic village, requisition of student accommodation, rise in hotel prices, traffic restrictions, threats of strike… With only a few weeks before the Olympics, the concerns have not dissipated. And yet. All these subjects which have been in the news for several months strangely echo the apprehensions of the French… in 1924, when the capital hosted the Olympic Games. Already a hundred years ago, press titles, of which the National Library of France keeps archives, bore witness to this.
On May 2, 1924, The small newspaper, Republican and conservative Parisian daily, headlined among its front page topics: “Will we be ready for the Olympics?”. An article signed by Jacques Mortane and subtitled “a disturbing visit to Colombes”, site of the future Olympic village. The Games were then to begin two months later, on July 5, 1924, and, with certain colleagues, the journalist was invited to visit the camp established in the commune in the western suburbs of Paris.
“The barracks are placed on the ground without roadworks. No sidewalks or paving,” describes the observer. One of the guards “walks majestically with a summer cap on which the words ‘Olympic Village’ sparkle. Well done, we are early, laughs Jacques Mortane, tackling what resembled the merchandising of the time. But for now, this little town of Babbel is more of an ocean of mud.”
The work is still not completed: “Of course, we are working hard (eight hours a day!), we are trying to make up for lost time, we are paving quickly, but the slope of the road leading to the stadium avenue, which was finished five days ago, is already broken: Damn rain!” The station does not retain the praise of Jacques Mortane either : “What we call the station is a spur of additional tracks: no shelter, only huts with ticket counters. In the sun or in bad weather, the wait will not be very pleasant.”
Criticisms that echo those made during the construction of the Olympic village, a century later, in Seine-Saint-Denis. “Will the infrastructure be ready?” questions a report broadcast on 8 p.m. on France 2, January 26, 2023. An article from Franceinfo dated February 6, 2023 reports the absence of air conditioning on the site and “the concern of delegations regarding the risk of heat waves.” No need, replies Anne Hidalgo on franceinfo the next day: the accommodation is “wooden buildings, with natural air conditioning”. Athletes “will come, and they will see that they will be very well”she then assures.
In 1924, the price of tickets for the Olympic events was debated. In The homelanddated April 9, 1924, Serge Veber reports the words of a friend indignant at the exorbitant prices. “I recoiled in horror,” said this friend. “Not to mention rugby, nor the association, nor cycling, nor quite a few other sports, simply if I want to attend the athletics, tennis, boxing and swimming events, for example, I cannot I won’t get out of it for less than 1,100 francs!”
“I will be well placed and still not in the front row. So I will not take out a subscription. It is much too expensive.”
A spectatorat La Patrie, April 9, 1924
“I’ll just go to the finals, the man continues. And I believe that many people will do like me. So that the qualifiers will be unfortunately deserted.” A disturbing testimony of similarities with those reported by the French press at the opening of the ticket office for the Paris 2024 Games. In an article dated February 22, 2023, franceinfo reports, among other things, the testimony of a spectator, who aimed swimming, judo, gymnastics and athletics: “We very quickly became disillusioned with the prices (…). In the end, we didn’t take anything, otherwise we got by for at least 2,500 euros,” plague this Norman woman who counted on the promise of “Olympic Games (which) had to be popular and open to all” as Tony Estanguet announced.
In an article published in the Figaro on April 16, 1924, and signed by Paul Dubonnet, the excessive rise in prices in hotels and restaurants is underlined: “In certain hotels, rooms costing 30 francs now cost 45 francs. Restaurateurs and cafe owners will no doubt soon come into unison if their pretensions are not put in order. We understand that Mr. Rimbert will not hesitate to harshly apply the law on illicit increases.” Same observation in theFree man of February 22, 1924. “Foreigners pay well, assures the journalist. Americans and Dutch have admirably stocked purses. The most extravagant prices leave them cold as ice. Under these conditions, hoteliers thought that renting rooms at a normal price would be foolish.”
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Similarly in December 2023, franceinfo reported a study by UFC-Que Choisir denouncing a surge in room prices in Parisian hotels after comparing the rates of 80 establishments and highlighting “an increase of 226%” for the night of the opening ceremony, from July 26 to 27, 2024. Some individuals, too, hoped to take advantage of the financial windfall by trying to rent their apartment to foreigners at a high price before seeing their hopes disappointed.
In 1924, the requisition of student accommodation was controversial. On February 22, in theFree man daily newspaper founded by Georges Clemenceau. “To accommodate the athletes, we start by evicting the students”, we read. Young people, housed in hotels, are victims of price increases.
Same theme, in The small newspaper : “Students expelled from hotels”, headlined the daily newspaper of February 20, 1924. “Emotion is still strong in the Latin Quarterindicated the daily. Yesterday, on Boulevard Saint-Michel, we could see students moving in a handcart topped with a sign reading: ‘Victims of the Olympic Games; we are chased away to accommodate foreigners.'”
Comments, almost word for word, found in the press of 2024. On April 11, franceinfo described the move of students from the Crous residences. “We get kicked out like that overnight, testifies one of these students. I’m a little in shock.” Earlier in the year, demonstrations were organized to protest against these requisitions.“A source of anxiety”denounced, in particular, the president of the Federation of general student associations.
Traffic difficulties, which have occupied the Parisian public debate in recent weeks, were already the subject of controversy in 1924. “Those who go to the stadium will have to leave their homes early in the morning if they want to meet the train,” reports The small newspaper of May 2, regarding the accessibility of the Colombes Olympic site.
May 3, the daily Excelsior is concerned about the closure of level crossings between Paris and Argenteuil. “This measure, dictated by prudence, would have an unfortunate consequence: traffic jams,” relates the article.
In this spring of 2024, the press reports the succession of traffic restrictions, particularly in the city center of the capital. The closure of certain metro stations during the competition also worries local residents and the lanes marked “Paris 2024” on the main roads in the Ile-de-France region which serve several Olympic sites add to the apprehension.
In The small newspaper on May 13, 1924, the threat of strike in the run-up to the Olympic Games was agitated by many professions. The cooks decide to go on strike the day before the official opening of the Games, indicates The small newspaper, “if by then, their bosses have not acceded to the special demands of restaurant and hotel kitchen staff.”
For grocers, lemonade sellers, butchers, wine merchants, market workers… “The unions organized meetings (…), indicates the daily. Those concerned decided to take industrial action by taking advantage of the influx of foreigners caused by the opening of the Olympic Games.”
A sentence which could have been repeated exactly as it is in the press in 2024. At the beginning of May, moreover, franceinfo indicated that “in several sectors, unions intend to put pressure on the government and want to use the Olympic Games to demand bonuses and better working conditions.”
In The small newspaper of May 2, 1924, a journalist reports on public opinion in the run-up to the Games: “In Colombes, everyone laments: ‘We will never be ready. Why did we wait so long?’ Yes, why? It’s not the 1928 Games that we’re preparing for.” And to conclude on a note of hope: “Paris will receive the foreign crowd (…) Let’s show them that France knows how to organize. We have been able to get out of more critical situations, let’s unite efforts for the national cause. Let’s not force foreigners to laugh at us, while we can modify what is not in place.”
A concern that largely echoes the criticism of many French people in recent weeks, with some even advising foreign visitors not to come to Paris for the 2024 Games. “I’m a little afraid that we’ll come across as puppets.”testifies an influencer at the microphone of franceinfo in May 2024, regretting that “the opportunity to shine” not be entered by the organizers.
On March 24, 1924, three months before the start of the Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, president of the International Olympic Committee, responded to criticism : “The Olympic Games are not world championships. They are more. We surround them with a certain athletic religiosity so that the idea lives.”
“You have to be wary of the whims of the crowd.”
Stone coubertinin Le Petit Journal, March 24, 1924
“You understand that with all our occupations, we have no trouble remaining free from petty intrigues, intrigues, internal quarrels, etc.”, concludes Pierre de Coubertin. One hundred years later, in the municipal council, on May 22, 2024, Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, expressed, in turn, her “fed up with Games bashing”mocks them “barely-to-enjoy” and promises that “popular enthusiasm” will grow between now and the event.
The deputy for trade (PCF) Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj also castigates the critics, deploring the “negative stories”. With 15 million visitors and 3.5 billion viewers expected, “all our Parisians, all our merchants, the soul of Paris, will be honored” and will remind that “Paris is the world capital of gastronomy and fashion”he insisted.
In 1924, the organization of the Paris Games finally satisfied spectators and athletes. 40,000 people attended the opening ceremony on July 5 at the Colombes Olympic stadium – which has since become the Yves-du-Manoir departmental stadium. In sporting terms, the French delegation finished in third position with 38 medals, including 13 gold.