Conditions in the Olympic Village have left some athletes uninspired: The sport’s biggest stars pack their own mattresses, hire chefs and even sleep outdoors.
The villa was a must-see venue for the 1924 Games, when Paris built several huts for competitors. Today, a century later, it is much bigger and better. The 2024 Village, which will cost around £1. 7 billion, is the length of 70 football pitches and sustainability is at the heart of its project.
After the Paralympic Games are over, it will be refurbished to accommodate 6,000 employees and accommodate a further 6,000 people. Georgina Grenon, director of sustainability for the Olympics, said the complex “will have life after. “
But while its cardboard beds and bathroom cooling systems are smart for the planet, they weren’t well earned by all candidates. Here, the Mirror takes a look inside the village as gold-medal-winning swimmer Thomas Ceccon is seen sleeping in a local park. . .
Ceccon, who won gold in the men’s 100m backstroke and bronze in the men’s 4x100m freestyle, spoke cheekily of the situation he is in after failing to qualify for the men’s 200m backstroke final. There is no air conditioning in the village, it’s hot, the food is bad,” Ceccon complained.
“Many athletes move for this reason: it is not an alibi or an excuse, it is the truth that perhaps not everyone knows. I am disappointed that I did not reach the final, but I was too tired. It is difficult to sleep. in combination nuit. et in the afternoon Normally, when I’m at home, I sleep in the afternoon here, in fact, I struggle between the heat and the noise.
Over the weekend, Saudi rower Husein Alireza shared a clip of the Italian taking a nap in a park with the caption: “Rest today, tomorrow. ” Ceccon is one of many athletes who have voiced their court cases about the situation there, with Australian swimmer Ariane Titmus criticizing the people.
“It probably wasn’t the time I thought I was capable, but living in the Olympic Village makes it hard to perform,” Titmus said after winning the women’s 400m freestyle. “It’s definitely not made for peak performance, so it’s a question. “of who can stay the course in mind. “
Meanwhile, Romanian tennis player Bernadette Szocs told The Guardian: “There’s no air conditioning, just this fan and it’s not enough. Somehow, we were lucky that it’s not that hot outside, so we don’t want it that much. However, it’s hot now, and you may feel like it’s too hot in the room.
“[The fan] is pretty sturdy and when it’s pointed at you it’s fine, but once it spins, you don’t feel it. We sleep with the door open at night. The rooms are small and there are two of us. people. “
Instead of air conditioning, each apartment has a water-based formula on the walls that can cool the room by up to 10°C; however, athletes have complained that they can only lower the temperature by up to 2°C. Some rooms also don’t have curtains, with American heptathlete Chari Hawkins a giant towel to block out the windows while changing.
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Competitors sleep on plain cardboard beds, and while some find them comfortable, others ship them with their own bedspreads. But they are said to be tough, and British diver Tom Daley, a gold medalist, tested the design by jumping on the bed without any signs of damage.
A spokesperson for manufacturer Airweave said: “We have carried out experiments, such as dropping weights on the beds. As long as they stick to two other people in bed, they will be strong enough to support the load. “However, they did. It didn’t please American gymnast Simone Biles, who posted on TikTok: “The bed sucks. But we’re getting bedspreads, so I hope it gets better. “
It turns out that village life is truly for everyone, as NBA stars have for years discovered their own places to live after raising considerations about protection and comfort. American basketball star Kevin Duran said: “I think we had no choice. I haven’t put myself on a cardboard bed since I did all this. “
British jumper Yasmin Harper, a bronze medallist, praised the sleeping situations, telling The Athletic: “I literally like the bed. I enjoy a hard bed, so it’s wonderful for me. And the town is literally nice. ” But I wasn’t as pleased with the food being served in the 3500-seat main dining room, which serves about 40,000 meals a day.
Harper continued, “The food is a little more questionable; The amount is a little insufficient. I feel like with food you want texture or flavor, and if there’s neither, it’s a little bit of a problem. “
British diver Tom Daley also expressed his concern, saying: “The town itself is quite impressive. The only downside is that the food hall is very busy, but I hope you realize that because as the games go on, it gets busier and busier. and busier. “
Laurent Michaud, director of the village, previously told Sky News: “We will have more than 350 meters of buffet with food from all over the world. . . and I am sure that the athletes will be very satisfied to see the French specialties prepared here. But the variety will first satisfy the desires of athletes in terms of nutrition and performance. ”
Athletes can enjoy French, Asian, Afro-Caribbean and world cuisine, and chocolate muffins have gone viral on TikTok, but so have bad reviews.
Australian tennis player Daria Saville posted on the trends site that the food “sold out very quickly” and that “meat characteristics were the first to run out. “She said that “the food is a little cold” and “lacks seasoning,” and that the plates were “super small,” so you’d want more than a dozen to feel full.
GB team executive leader Andy Anson also said it was inadequate. He told The Times: “At the beginning of every game, there are two or three disorders; the biggest one this time is the food in the village, which is not “There is not enough safe food: eggs, chicken, safe carbohydrates, and then there is the quality of the diet, with raw meat served to the athletes. “
Although athletes do not sleep well, the fault is not only with cardboard beds. The town has a reputation for being crazy about sex and 300,000 condoms are said to have been handed out this year, according to Sky News, with athletes hanging socks on door handles as a universal symbol of “running away”.
Former long jump star Susen Tiedtke has told Bild in the past: “Gender is still a challenge in the village. At the Olympic Games, athletes are at their physical best. Once the festival is over, they need to release their power. ” And Matthew Syed, a former table tennis star, revealed that he had more sex while competing than ever before in his life.
“I am occasionally asked whether the Olympic Village, the sprawling conglomerate of restaurants and housing that houses the world’s most productive athletes during the Games, is the sex party it should be,” he wrote in the Times. My answer is the same: it is too true.
“I played my first Games in Barcelona in 1992 and I fucked more in those two and a half weeks than in the rest of my life up to that point. That’s twice, which may not seem like much, still for a 21-year-old student with teeth. Twisted was a small miracle; for many of us Olympic virgins, Barcelona was as much sex as sport.
The Mirror has reached out to the Paris 2024 Olympics for comment.
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