Inside the Olympic Village of the Paris Games

TThe Olympic Village building attributed to Spain is next to Italy’s apartments along Rue Volta in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. Algerian flags hang outside the windows on the lower floors of the Spanish venue: the two Olympic delegations, which include athletes, coaches and some doctors and other staff, are sharing facilities. Hungary is right next door: “Success”, says a banner hanging on the nine-story structure, “is in us”.

On Tuesday, inside the 53-hectare Olympic Village, which spans a trio of municipalities – Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis and L’Ile-Saint-Denis – Paraguayan judoka Gabriela Narvarez paints her nails red. white- blue triband style of your country’s flag. Two Brazilian coaches play pop-a-shot in a game room. Eight Irish rugby players return from a baguette-making session. They are liking your products.

Katie Ledecky, the seven-time Olympic gold medalist swimming superstar who will be a centerpiece of NBC’s coverage in the first week of the Games and whose face has been plastered across all of the network’s promotions for its $8 billion investment in the Olympics, files from the cafeteria along with dozens of Olympic athletes from around the world, completely carefree. No bags are allowed in the Olympic Village cafeteria – what, are the athletes going to steal sweets? – so Ledecky has to retrieve his things from the drop-off point, like everyone else, and stand in line with much less famous athletes from Israel and San Marino.

The Olympic Village is busy again, a very welcome sight to see. During the last two Games, in Tokyo in 2021 and in Beijing in 2022, COVID-19 protocols restricted activity and interaction in one of the meeting places that are simultaneously intense – with a lot at stake for the Olympic athletes – and festive. (Athletes need to relax, especially post-competition). In times of pandemic, Olympic athletes isolated themselves from each other and were practically expelled from the city as soon as they crossed the finish line. Now they can stick around and have fun in the five-ring circus.

(Except for the poor Australians, whose Olympic committee is demanding that athletes vacate the villa 48 hours after the end of competition in their sport. Authorities claim there are not enough beds for the wave of athletes arriving to compete during the back- end of the schedule and that the partying swimmers finishing in the first week would distract other Australians “After you’ve worked so hard to go to the Olympics, to be removed from that whole environment as soon as you finish, I just think it’s kind of a fraud. ”, world record holder in the 400 m freestyle, Ariarne Titmus he said earlier this year. Titmus declined to answer any questions about the village when approached on Tuesday.)

see more information: Meet the US Gymnastics Team for the Paris Olympics

In the New Zealand residential lounge – which features comfy beanbags, a display of the traditional clothing, or kakahu, worn by recent Olympic flag bearers, as well as games like Monopoly and Jenga – a delegation representative shows me to a table where sweets and local coffee are available, before she spots a bowl of condoms next to the Kiwi treats and quickly removes it. “We probably don’t want condoms anywhere near food,” she says, placing them on the floor.

Air conditioning has been a controversial issue entering these Olympics. Paris organizers created a liquid cooling system in the buildings that would keep the rooms comfortable – and limit the Games’ carbon footprint. But many delegations, including the United States, Great Britain, Hong Kong, IItaly and Norway, I didn’t trust the system to work in the Paris heat. And they brought their own AC units to the village.

Regarding the ambient temperature, “it’s okay for us,” says Krishan Bahadur Pathak, an Indian field hockey player. “But we are from India. We are always hot. The director of the Olympic Village, Laurent Michaud, states that athletes from different delegations, satisfied with the existing conditions, left their ACs aside. (He did not say how many or specify countries.)

Food is always a hot topic in the village. The food in the cafeteria, housed in what was once a power plant and later a film studio, received moderate reviews. “It’s not Michelin-starred food,” says Christopher Ruehr, a German field hockey player. “It’s okay, I guess.” Perhaps most concerning is the fact that an external staircase connecting the dining hall to a residential area is too narrow; the athletes, some very large and eager for a meal, have to squeeze each other into what should be a one-way path. “Please hold the stair railing,” warns a sign.

I hope I’m very excited about this peculiarity of the village. But if your favorite Olympian trips on the stairs, you heard about it here first.

The main restaurant is open 24 hours a day and will serve 40,000 meals a day, according to Games organizers. Other village facts and figures: The village’s 28,000-square-foot fitness center has six saunas — three for men, three for women — but if the space becomes crowded, priority access is given to athletes who need to reduce their weight to compete. Eleven laundry facilities are spread throughout the village: nearly 18,000 pounds of laundry will be processed per day.

See more information: Which Olympic sport is hardest on the body?

At the southern end of the village is the multi-religious center, where there are dedicated spaces for Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists and Hindus to offer prayers. But everyone is welcome. “We are here to help anyone who needs a listening ear,” says Tenpa Rabgye, a Buddhist monk who normally lives in a monastery in the south of France. “Maybe we can help someone get through a difficult time when they feel pressured.” An athlete visited the Buddhist area during lunch, Rabgye said.

He must expect much more when the Games begin.

Less spiritual Olympians can head to the Village Club on the banks of the Seine to relax. There, they can access the Disconnection Bubble, a screen-free area with massaging seats. The club also has an outdoor bar – serving free non-alcoholic Coronas – and lounge chairs for relaxing. A crew of German athletes seemed quite pleased with the location of their village housing: around the corner from the Village Club, close to the water and a few steps from the cafeteria. They might feel different when the Village Club starts to rock.

At no point, however – not even on the last night of the Games – will the Club’s refrigerator be stocked with beers with a high alcohol content. Athletes must import their alcoholic beverages to the Village. The opening ceremonies haven’t even started yet. But the Olympic drinking will begin soon.