For Claire and I, the jewel in the crown of Phnom Penh is
the optimistically named Olympic Stadium. It was actually built for the South
East Asian games in 1964 which were then staged elsewhere because the stadium
hadn’t been completed in time. For Cambodians, the word Olympic does not really
mean anything other than being a reference to multiple sports. And since there
are multiple sports played at the stadium, the Olympic Stadium sounds like a
fine name.
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| A glorious place for sunsets. This view has changed now; large apartment blocks half built are already towering over the stand opposite. |
It was designed by the iconic Vann Molyvann whose
architecture you can see throughout the city and harks of a Cambodia moving
from colonialism to a modern era. Such is his fame that there are architectural
tours of various buildings and areas that he has designed. The indoor stadium
is cleverly built into the main stand with hundreds of vents allowing air to
circulate and light to burst in, and has a water system where rain water is
transported around the walls and floor acting as a cooling system.
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| The indoor stadium where people play badminton in the evenings |
Every day, over a thousand people use the stadium as
their place for exercise and for hanging out. There will be people running or
gently ambling around the track having a natter, whilst on the pitch in the
middle, two teams from the Cambodian professional football league might be
playing; running back and forth in an often fruitless manner. Where shot
putters and long jumpers would be, there will be couples swatting a shuttle
cock back and forth – no net is needed.
The stars of the show, however, are the throngs of dancers who
rim the top of the stadium. They move en masse dutifully following the aerobic
dance class leader as large loudspeakers belt out the music. As the evening
progresses, the music moves from Korean pop, to traditional Khmer, to Bollywood
and on until the music and dancers drift away into the night. The eclectic mix
of music, always involving a jazzed up version of Hotel California though, is
matched by the range of ages taking part. And even the odd white person can sometimes
be spotted.
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| This happens every morning at sunrise and every evening at sunset. It is mostly women who do it, but of all ages. When running around the track and looking up at them dance traditionally Khmer, the mass, moving together to a slow rhythm can be a little hypnotic. In the morning, there are also Chinese sword martial art type rhythmic thing. Those pics are on the computer in Oz with Claire though. Sorry! |
Below the dancers on the steps of the terracing are those
who like to sit, gossip and look at the life that is happening around them.
They see people running up and down the terracing or doing press ups and sit
ups on the steps. The slightly older male and female walkers, flinging their
arms in the air, will weave in and out of those sitting as they make their way
around the stadium and back again.
After all of this exercise, you would be right to expect
that Cambodians will be hungry. So of course there are snack stalls selling
corn on the cob, meat on a stick, noodles and fried bananas. The healthy
addition is the freshly squeezed orange juice, which is undoubtedly the best
I've ever tasted.
It is behind these food stalls that the Olympic Stadium’s
secret lies. Walk through a door in the wall and laid out before you are the Olympic
swimming and diving pools. On a weekday after 5pm, you may be privileged to see
swimmers who are missing limbs power up and down the pool and at any time you
will be entertained by fearless Cambodian youths diving off the 10m board –
often more than one at a time. Amazing pics here.
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| 50m pool with a separate diving pool at the far end. One length of the front crawl and I'm done for. |
This is all just within the actual Olympic Stadium. The immediate
grounds surrounding the stadium is where you will see old men playing petanque,
young bucks playing basketball, children learning tae kwon do, wealthier types
serving double faults and footballers scuffling about in the grit and concrete.
The largest crowds watch the volleyball though, where a nation of small people
defy gravity to slam the ball down with force. As ever, the crowd’s interest is
encouraged by the amounts that they have bet.
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| They are seriously skilled at petanque. If you throw it close, without fail the next guy will just whack it away. |
It is here that the life of Phnom Penh can be felt and one
of the few places where the various people of Phnom Penh, rich – poor, young –
old, male – female, participant – spectator, share a space and an experience. It
is free and open to all. The opportunity to be together is maybe the most
valuable thing there could be in a society where division and strains continue.
This all may not be enough to save the Olympic Stadium though.
It is prime real estate situated right in the middle of the city, and huge
developments already engulf and tower over one side of the Stadium. Last year
plans announced to develop a modern, multi-purpose sports centre on the
outskirts of Phnom Penh were met with fears for what it would mean for the
Olympic Stadium, especially given that the government actually sold the stadium
to a Taiwanese company in 2000.
When I was young, the tennis courts of the local school
would be swamped with kids itching to dive around like Boris Becker
or volley like Navratilova. Every evening for a few glorious weeks in summer,
there would be about 20 kids whacking balls about. The gate was sometimes left
open and other times, you could crawl under the fence that nobody seriously
thought about repairing to keep people out. The fence was more there to keep
balls in.
Now, the courts have been resurfaced and improved and,
because of the investment, was deemed valuable enough to be locked up. There
are no kids whacking balls about during a summer’s evening anymore. It is
pristine and empty. In the UK, there was a huge focus on how to create a legacy
after the Olympics but they couldn’t even work out what to do with the stadium.
In Phnom Penh, they may not have had an Olympics but the stadium has created a
legacy, just by opening it up for the people to use.
Olympic Stadium, we raise a glass to you.
Gordon
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| Strange people even have bread, cheese and prosecco to celebrate birthdays. Thanks Nicole! |
Gordon
