Paris Olympics: Yves du Manoir — living over a century

Yves du Manoir, a historic Olympic venue in Paris, predated hockey's debut and will host international stars for Paris 2024.

Yves du Manoir, the centre-stage of Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s farewell Games, is steeped in Olympic history for a century.

It was the stadium that saw the making of the legend of Flying Finn Pavo Nurmi, who ran seven races in six days despite the polluted air and heatwave to claim five gold medals.

It was the platform where the Uruguayan football team, which beat Switzerland 3-0 in the final in front of more than 40,000 fans, rose to international stardom.

It was the venue for the 1924 Opening Ceremony and athletics, gymnastics, tennis, some of the cycling, horse riding, football and rugby and two of the modern pentathlon events (running, fencing).

Also known as Stade Olympique, Yves du Manoir, situated in the north-western Paris suburb of Colombes, predated hockey’s Olympic debut. After a hundred years, it is the only competition venue for Paris 2024 and will incidentally host hockey.

In its new avatar, decked up with a blue synthetic turf, the historic venue — once almost abandoned, but now renovated with a much-reduced capacity from 60,000 to 15,000 — is ready to welcome international hockey stars from around the globe.

“It has been 100 years since the last Olympics were held here. So I am very excited (to play here),” said Manpreet Singh.