An Olympic Village is a residential complex built in and around the host city to accommodate the participating athletes, coaching staff and official delegates during the period of the Olympic Games and the Paralympics.
In the early days of modern Olympics when there used to be a lesser number of athletes, athletes had to find and pay for their own accommodation. However, as the number of athletes grew over the years, it was mandated by the IOC for the host city to provide accommodation and food to the athletes. Therefore, the first Olympic Village for the athletes was created at the 1924 Olympics in Paris.
After 100 years, the Olympics have returned to Paris. A century down the line, the size of the games has grown and consequently that of the village, too, with more features and facilities than ever.
Let us have a closer look at what the Olympic Village for Paris Olympics 2024 look like.
Location
The Olympic Village is located approximately five miles north of Paris, in parts of the towns Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis, and L’Ile-Saint-Denis. It is approximately 330,000 square meters. It is the size of 70 football pitches, and will house 14,250 athletes and entourage members during the Olympics.
By the Athletes, For the Athletes
The Olympic Village for Paris Olympics 2024 was built in consultation with several athletes from the 5 continents who shared their vision of an ideal Games Village. A manifesto was drafted by the Athletes’ Commission of Paris 2024 to meet the requirements of the athletes.
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Accommodation
The Village that was built at the cost of around €2billion (£1.7billion), has a complex of 82 buildings, 3,000 apartments and 7,200 bedrooms. In what gives a feel of a dormitory, athletes will share a bedroom with one other and a bathroom with three others. The beds are constructed with cardboard that has the capacity to support 250 kilograms of weight. It is replete with wide-ranging facilities including a 24-hour fitness centre, bank, post office, hair salon, multi-faith centre and medical centre.
Mess
The Olympic Village features a 3,500-seater main dining hall as 60,000 meals will be prepared per day. Athletes can fuel on French, Asian, African-Caribbean and world cuisine. The acclaimed chefs will serve more than 150 vegetarian dishes and around 300 that of non-vegetarian. Athletes can also take baking classes in a bakery where workshops will be held for them.
Training Centres
The Olympic Village in Paris has a total of eight training venues, seven of which have been set up within the studios of the Cité du Cinéma in order to reduce the travelling times of the athletes between the Village and the training centres.
Apart from those training at their competition venues, 100% of the athletes will train within 20 minutes from the Village, and 60% of those will train within the Village itself. 85% of athletes will be accommodated less than 30 minutes away from their competition venue.
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What happens to the Olympic Village after the Games?
After the end of the Olympics and Paralympics, the Olympic Village will be repurposed into a residential cum commercial complex. The neighborhood will house 2,500 new homes, a student hostel, a hotel, parks and gardens, offices and local shops.
