Organizers receive key to the Olympic Village for the Paris 2024 Games – 02/29/2024 – Sports

The organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games received this Thursday (29) the key to the Olympic Village, “proof”, according to President Emmanuel Macron, that France will be ready to host the biggest sporting event in the world within five months.

The person responsible for the company Solideo, in charge of the works, handed over the symbolic key to the Village as if it were a gold medal to the president of the Olympic Games organizing committee, Tony Estanguet.

“It’s a great day, we are all participating in the adventure of the century”, celebrated Macron, who during a visit to the site, promised that he will swim in the River Seine, one of the symbols of the Olympic event, but without specifying when.

The Seine runs through the Olympic Village, which will host almost 14,500 athletes and coaches during the Olympic Games, from 26 July to 11 August, and 9,000 during the Paralympics, from 28 August to 8 September.

Construction lasted seven years and “despite Covid-19, two years of inflation and the war in Ukraine”, said the French president, “it was carried out on time, within budget and with social and environmental exemplarity”.

The French presidency stated that there was only an additional cost of less than 3%, not counting inflation. The total was around 2 billion euros (R$ 10.7 billion at current prices).

Contrary to the waste, hasty construction and extravagant projects that tarnished the reputation of other editions of the Olympic Games, Paris 2024 defended a “sober” and sustainable model.

“We made the Olympic Village not just a showcase, but a manifesto of the major urban issues of the 21st century”, declared Nicolas Ferrand, head of Solideo, about this 52-hectare space located north of Paris.

Organizers claim that, due to the use of low-carbon concrete and wood structures and a renewable geothermal heating system, the Village will generate around half the carbon emissions released by a traditional building.

In addition, it will have solar panels, water reuse and air purification systems.

In total, the Vila Olímpica has around 82 buildings, 3,000 apartments and 7,200 rooms, with its central area in the Cinema City, which will house the main restaurant, with capacity for 3,500 people.

The next stage of the organization is to equip the apartments with beds, tables and furniture, as well as preparing the athlete service centers.

After the competition, the village will become a commercial and residential neighborhood in the communes of Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and Ile Saint-Denis, suburbs close to Paris.
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Laurent Michaud, responsible for the Olympic Village, estimates that more than 345,000 items will be needed: duvets, bedside tables, beds (14,250), fans (8,200), sofas (5,535).

“There will be two athletes for each 12 m² room and a bathroom for four people. Everyone will be on equal terms”, he explains.

Equipment and services will be provided by sponsors.

This city of athletes will also have laundry and concierge services, grocery store, police station, hair salon, gym, bar (alcohol-free), multi-use center and even postal service.

A 3,000 m² polyclinic will also be available to athletes 24 hours a day for treatments, exams or MRIs.

The apartments will not have kitchens, but participants will have two restaurants and food trucks spread throughout the village.

“Our ambition is for athletes to feel at home,” said Laurent Pasteur, from the company Sodexo, about the “largest restaurant in the world”, located in the Cinema City, which will be open 24 hours a day.

Athletes will also be able to enjoy four themed spaces: French, Asian, international and Afro-Caribbean specialties and, just like at home, they must collect their reusable cutlery after each meal.