Olympic Stadium Phnom Penh

This is a post I started last year and never got round to finishing but, as it is coming up to the Olympics in the UK, it’s now or never.

 Olympic Stadium Phnom Penh

When we visit Phnom Penh one of my favorite places to visit on my own for some peace and solitude is the Olympic Stadium. I have only recently discovered it although I have passed by it a few times without calling in. It interest me on two counts, architecturally, and as an open space and place to observe Cambodians exorcising.

Local people exorcising in the cool of the evening

It is constructed mainly out of reinforced concrete and the first time I visited was in the morning of a weekday when it was fairly quiet and I could wander around exploring all the buildings and rooms. Wherever I looked I could see how well it was designed to handle large crowds and with thought given to flow of large masses of people. Spaces were filled with water that seemed to me to serve two functions, to stop people accessing areas across the water and also to split up the concrete spaces and give a feeling of space.

Looking across to the main stand and indoor arena.

Most doors were open and I wandered about and went inside the main building to what is the main indoor sports arena. Whilst indoor it still has a feeling of the outside with regular slits and gaps in the walls giving airflow and a glimpse of the sky.

Side View of the main stand and indoor arena.

I also enjoyed looking at the outdoor track and climbing up the seating to stand on the top where I got a fine view of the city. I was able to walk over to the commentators box which hangs over the track and this would be where the official trackside announcer no doubt sat and gave out information on what they saw below.

It looked open and could be accessed by a narrow precarious ladder but my nerve gave out as I was on my own and who knows what the box was currently used for. I could almost guarantee that this being Cambodia, and in the middle of the capital city, somebody would be living in it.

I never feel threatened in Cambodia although I get approached regularly and asked for money , in the indoor arena a fellow living rough asked for a dollar and then went away, without.

But back to observing the residents exorcising. When I went back over the next few days it was apparent that the whole area is used regularly by people who have their set routines. It is popular to walk along the top level of seating, then drop a level, walk and repeat. A man walks backwards and weaves between obstacles; another man walks along the narrow crowd control wall with a drop on one side, of a water filled trench and spiked railings, and the concrete seats on the other.

Every time I go, I will see at least one rat, the structure of the seating seems to have been built to house them whereas if I was the architect I would have purposely designed out all the gaps and the  holes which now serve as ideal bolt holes.

Local football match in progress late Sunday afternoon

As I have visited I have built up a picture of the places current use. A large number of local football teams use the grounds for training and there are some 5 aside football pitches including the only pitch I have ever seen with a light pole in the centre; play around it, don’t run into it!!

The indoor arena is the home of the Cambodian Volley ball association, one of the smaller buildings the Cambodian weightlifting association.

Another interesting find was the outdoor, Olympic size, swimming and separate diving pool.

Outdoor swimming pool looking towards diving pool at far end

This is open to the public and we have since been swimming there, it is fairly clean and very refreshing although the changing rooms are untidy and decrepit. Again you can see in the design careful consideration to handling large numbers of athletes (swimmers).Maybe the pool is used early morning when I have never been but I haven’t seen many people swimming there. I had a swim in the diving pool but looking at the diving boards there is really scary; how could you ever dive from that height?

Joe licking the Olympic bowl when he was over on holiday.

So, once I found the place I was fascinated to learn more about it especially as it was called the Olympic stadium and has the usual large bowl for the Olympic flame. I found that it had a chequered history, some grim periods and the setting for some financial skullduggery. So onto the internet where I found out the following:

Construction on the national sports complex started in 1963 and was completed in 1964.

The stadium might have been built to host the 1963 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games but the games were cancelled due to political problems in Cambodia.

The stadium played a small part in the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Unexpectedly, North Korea faced Australia in a qualifier. Because North Korea lacked diplomatic relations with most countries, finding a suitable venue for the match proved difficult, until Head of State Norodom Sihanouk, an ally of Kim Il-sung, said the matches could be held in Phnom Penh. The matches attracted 40,000 fans, with Sihounouk decreeing half would cheer for Australia, while the other half cheered the Koreans. The matches were held on 21 November 1965 and on 24 November 1965 with North Korea winning both (6–1 and 3–1). Because South Korea and all African teams had withdrawn in protests against FIFA, North Korea were thus directly qualified to the final tournament, where they reached the quarter-final.^[3][4]

Among the facilities are Olympic-size pools for swimming and diving and an indoor volley-ball court with a capacity of up to 8,000, now known as the Olympic Stadium Indoor Arena.

During the Khmer Rouge era, the stadium was used as an execution site where officials of the Khmer Republic formerly led by Lon Nol were killed.

In the decades following the Khmer Rouge era, the stadium facilities fell into disrepair. In 2000 the stadium complex was redeveloped by a Taiwanese firm, the Yuanta Group, which refurbished the stadium but also redeveloped parcels of the complex into condominiums and commercial properties.

As of 2007, the stadium has come to be a popular attraction for Phnom Penh residents, who attend daily exercise sessions, as well as football games and other activities.

In May 2007, the Irish singer Ronan Keating performed in concert in the stadium's Indoor Arena, the first concert by a major international act.

So it’s a place we keep visiting and has a nice positive feel to it.