Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the Olympic Village: “An example of a city of the future”

The Olympic Village, the “home” of the athletes who will participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was inaugurated by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who assured that it is “an example of a city of the future”.

The Olympic Village was built north of Paris, has 52 hectares and will host more than 15,000 athletes between the Olympic Games, which will be held from July 26 to August 11, and the Paralympic Games, which will take place from August 28 to September 8.

In the Olympic Village, 82 buildings, parks, a bridge over the Seine River were built and will have traditional common places for athletes such as the dining room, the gym and entertainment areas. The cost was about 2 billion dollars and next year it will be transformed into “an ecological city” with 3000 apartments, shops, two schools and all kinds of services.

“They can be proud, they have kept their promises, both in terms of deadlines and budgets. We are a country of builders and despite the Covid crisis, two years of inflation, the war in Ukraine, we have achieved France’s biggest project in record time,” said Macron.

The President of France emphasized the technology that was used for construction with the environment in mind and stressed: “Here we see the buildings that will be built in 2040, capable of withstanding the climatic conditions of 2050, both cold and heat”.

In this regard, Laurent Michaud, director of the Paris 2024 Athletes’ Village, explained that “our goal was to use what already existed and add all the equipment and services we needed to control and reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible”.

One of the controversies during construction had been generated because there is no air conditioning in the rooms and high temperatures are expected in Paris at the time of the Games. “We have designed these buildings to be comfortable places. We don’t need air conditioning in them because we have oriented the facades so that they don’t get too much sun during the summer. We are also providing natural cold water that we are obtaining from the underground to cool the air in these apartments. So air conditioning won’t be needed here in summer,” Yann Krysinski, responsible for delivering headquarters and infrastructure in Paris, told Reuters.

“The Games create annoyances, but they leave a legacy. Without the Games, all these houses that will remain would not have been created,” Macron said, adding: “The athletes will be able to spend the Games in the best conditions, we are going to welcome everyone here.”

Already with the 45,000 keys handed in and the last works in progress, the Paris 2024 Olympic Village is waiting for the 15,000 athletes and the first athletes are due to arrive on July 12.