２度目のパリ五輪　１００年前から唯一続投のホッケー会場

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】１９２４年のパリ五輪が行われたイブデュマノワール競技場は、１００年後の２０２４年大会でも引き続き使用される唯一の会場だ。前回はメイン会場を務めたが、今回はホッケーが開催される。（写真は、２０２４年パリ五輪のホッケー競技が行われるイブデュマノワール競技場）
　パリ北西部のコロンブ地区にあるイブデュマノワール競技場は、１９２８年に飛行機事故で命を落としたラグビー選手イブデュ・マノワールの名を取り、現在はこの名前で呼ばれている。
　２０２４年大会では、ホッケー会場として数百人の出場選手と多くの観客を迎え入れる。男女のホッケーは７月２７日から８月９日に実施。フランスで人気ナンバーワンのスポーツではないかもしれないが、北欧とアジア、特にインドには多くのファンがいる。
　１２月には、改修を請け負った建設会社から、新しい保有者であるオードセーヌ県へ鍵型のシンボルが引き渡され、五輪へ向けて地元当局へ正式に譲渡された最初の会場となった。大会組織委員会によると、前回のパリ五輪から続投するのはここだけだという。
　１９２４年大会でも五輪に向けた改修が行われ、開会式と陸上、馬術、体操などの競技が実施された。この大会では、英国の陸上短距離選手であるハロルド・エイブラハムスとエリック・リデルがそれぞれ名勝負を繰り広げ、その様子は１９８１年の映画『炎のランナー』で描かれたことでも知られる。
　その後は１９３８年にサッカーＷ杯決勝も行われ、第二次世界大戦後には収容人数を６万人に増やした。しかし、１９７２年にパルク・デ・プランスがパリ西部に開場すると使用機会が減り、２０世紀末に四つのスタンドのうち三つが撤去された。今は由緒正しい歴史とは裏腹に、ビル街と高速道路の間を縫うようにして建っている。
　それでも２０２４年大会のホッケー会場に選ばれたことで、スタジアムは息を吹き返した。２年間の作業を経て、残っていたスタンドの６０００席は基準を満たすレベルに改修され、また新たに１０００席と、ホッケーその他で使える練習グラウンドも設置。来年２月から４月には仮設スタンドが組まれ、収容人数は合計で１万３５００人になるという。
　費用は総額１億１００万ユーロ（約１５９億円）で、そのうち８７４０万ユーロ（約１３８億円）を地元自治体が、残りの１３６０万ユーロ（約２１億円）を五輪向けの建設作業を管轄する公的機関ソリデオが負担する。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/01/04-16:24）

The stadium that was the main site for the 1924 Paris Olympics is ready, a century later, to welcome hundreds of participants and tens of thousands of spectators for next year's Summer Olympic Games in the French capital.
The Yves-du-Manoir stadium, in the northwestern Paris suburb of Colombes, became on Monday the first sporting venue to be formally handed over by developers to local authorities ahead of the Games.
It will host the competitions in field hockey, a sport which may not be the number one activity in France but has a huge following in northern Europe and Asia, in particular India.
The stadium was specially renovated for the 1924 Paris Games, when it hosted the opening ceremony, athletics and other sports ranging from equestrian to gymnastics.
During those Games it was the scene of the epic sprint races involving British athletes Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, famously portrayed in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.
According to the organisers, it will be the only 2024 Olympic venue to be hosting the Games for a second time.
It also hosted the 1938 World Cup football final, where Italy beat Hungary, and had its capacity expanded to 60,000 after the end of World War II.
But the opening of the Parc des Princes stadium in 1972 in the west of Paris signalled its decline and three of the four stands were demolished at the end of last century.
- 'New destiny' -
It now stands in a location that belies the stadium's mythical status, squeezed between 15-storey buildings and a motorway.
Its selection to host the field hockey events in 2024 has given the stadium a new lease of life.
Two years of work enabled the historic stand, with a capacity of 6,000 seats, to be brought up to standard and a new stand of 1,000 seats to be built as well as training pitches for hockey and other sports.
Temporary stands to be installed between February and April will bring the total capacity to 13,500 seats, said Edouard Donnelly, head of operations at Olympics organising committee COJO.
The total cost of the work amounted to 101 million euros ($110 million) -- 87.4 million financed by the local authorities and the remaining 13.6 million from Solideo, the public establishment responsible for delivering the Olympic building works.
On Monday, construction group Leon Grosse, which carried out the renovations, symbolically handed over the keys to the new complex to its owner, France's Hauts-de-Seine department.
Marc Guillaume, the top state-appointed official for the Paris region, said the handover was just the first of several.
There would be many other ceremonies of this nature in the coming weeks, he said.
The stadium is named after French rugby player Yves du Manor, who died in a plane crash in 1928, aged 23.
The Olympics were an opportunity to completely renovate this stadium, said the head of the Hauts-de Seine department, Georges Siffredi.
It will host the men's and women's Olympic hockey tournaments between July 27 and August 9.
Some 300,000 spectators are expected to attend over the fortnight of competition, said COJO head Donnelly.
Other facilities will be declared ready during the first months of 2024.
The Arena Porte de la Chapelle, which will host badminton events, is to be handed over in January, the Olympic village in February and the aquatics centre at the end of March.