The stadium that was the main site for the 1924 Paris Olympics is ready to welcome hundreds of participants and tens of thousands of spectators for next year's Summer Olympics.
The Yves-du-Manoir stadium, in the Paris suburb of Colombes, became on Monday the first venue handed over by developers to local authorities.
It will host the competitions in field hockey, which has a huge following in northern Europe and Asia.
The stadium was renovated for the 1924 Paris Games, when it hosted the opening ceremony, athletics and other sports. It was the scene of sprints involving British athletes Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, portrayed in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.
According to organizers 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, when Italy beat Hungary, and had its capacity expanded to 60,000 after World War II. But the opening of the Parc des Princes stadium in 1972 in the west of Paris signaled its decline, and three of four stands were demolished. It is now squeezed between 15-story buildings and a motorway.
Hosting field hockey in 2024 has given the stadium a new lease of life.
Developers turn over the key to the Yves-du-Manoir stadium to Georges Siffresi, center, president of the Haut-de-Seine district council. AFP
