SAINT-DENIS.- The French president, Emmanuel Macroninaugurated this Thursday the Olympic Village that will host almost 14,500 athletes and their technical team between July 26 and August 11, on the banks of the Seine north of Paris.
The president of the organizing committee of the Paris Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, received the leadership of the Villa from the person in charge of Solideo, the company in charge of the Olympic works.
“They have achieved it on time, on budget and with social and environmental exemplarity,” celebrated Macron, for whom the construction of this Olympic site was the “adventure of a century.”
Macron toured this 52-hectare space, installed in an area straddling three cities: Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and L’Île-Saint-Denis, and which after the Paralympic Games (from August 28 to September 8) It will be used for housing.
Built over seven years with innovations to reduce its carbon footprint, the Olympic Village brings together some 82 buildings, 3,000 apartments and 7,200 rooms, and will have at its heart the City of Cinema, which will house the main restaurant.
In order to accommodate the 206 Olympic delegations, the organizers will now have to equip the departments with beds, tables, etc., as well as prepare the service centers for the athletes.
Distribution of the Villa in Paris:
Laurent Michaud, head of the Olympic Villages of the organizing committee, evaluates the necessary items at more than 345,000: 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 the sponsors.
This ephemeral city will have laundry and concierge services, a grocery store, a police station, a hair salon, a fitness room, a bar (without alcohol), a multi-denominational center and even a post office.
A 3,000 m2 polyclinic will also be available to athletes 24 hours a day for treatments, scans or MRIs.
The apartments will lack a kitchen, but the athletes will have a giant restaurant in the City of Cinema open 24 hours and a smaller one in L’Île-Saint-Denis and “food-trucks” (food trucks) distributed throughout the Village .
FOUNTAIN: AFP
