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Everything to Know About the 2024 Paris Olympic Village
Find out all there is to know about the complex that Olympic athletes will call home during the Summer Games!
For the past few months, NBC Insider has given Olympic fans worldwide spectacular previews of what to expect when Team USA arrives in Paris to compete on a world stage. American athletes across 32 sports will look to bring home the gold when the 2024 Summer Olympics kick off in late July. If previous Olympics are any indication, fans should expect the United States gold medal collection to get even more impressive when the dust settles.
We love peeling back the curtain as much as anyone else, so today, we're examining the 2024 Paris Olympic Village (also known as the Athletes' Village), the newly built complex that will house thousands of men and women from around the world. Here's everything you need to know about the Olympic Village and how the 2024 version will impact the athletes themselves.
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What does the Olympic Village look like?
For the past year, Olympic officials have worked around the clock to build the 2024 Olympic Village, which looks more like a sprawling upscale apartment complex that wouldn't look out of place in any major U.S. city. The Village is thoughtfully designed to allow the athletes to train, socialize, relax, and live in a safe complex that will anticipate their needs.
Much of the Village's recreation areas and green spaces are located on the banks of the Seine River, allowing even the most competitive Olympian ample opportunity to bask in the serenity of one of Paris' most famous bodies of water.
Individual rooms resemble no-nonsense flats and apartments of countless European cities — nothing too fancy. Notably, you won't find the latest TVs or video game consoles in the athletes' apartments, which fit two beds per room.
The Infamous Cardboard Beds
Speaking of beds — the much-discussed cardboard beds return to the Olympic Village after making their debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The furniture, designed by the brand Airweave, was chosen by the organizers for its sustainability, which is of chief concern for the French Games.
Over 16,000 beds arrived in Paris and were placed in the athletes' rooms May 11, per Insider the Games, leading many, including TODAY's Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager to discuss how exactly the beds should be used by athletes.
For context, the beds dubbed "anti-sex beds" by many athletes, who were advised by the IOC to avoid intimate personal relations, for lack of a better word, amid the coronavirus pandemic. This is not the case for this year's Games, with the Olympic Village Director Laurent Michaud confirming in an interview with Sky News that the so-called "intimacy ban" has been lifted.
"It is very important that the conviviality here is something big," Michaud said.
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Where are the 2024 Olympic Village apartments?
The Olympic Village is found on a 51-hectare site less than 5 miles north of Paris. It's technically placed across three different French towns: Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis, and L'Ile-Saint-Denis. The Village, part of a gigantic swarth of land previously occupied by industrial parks and businesses, comprises a jaw-dropping 330,000 square meters.
Athletes won't have to worry about being away from the action. According to Olympic officials, "Aside from those training at their competition venues, 100% of the athletes will train within 20 minutes from the Village, and 60% of those will train within the Village itself. 85% of athletes will be accommodated less than 30 minutes away from their competition venue."
Shuttle buses and electric bikes are also available to travel around the Village.
It sounds like the Olympic Village will be the epicenter of all the nonstop action that the Summer Games are known for — a fact that we're sure the athletes themselves are happy about!
What's the food situation like at the Olympic Village?
Olympic athletes must fuel their bodies with healthy, nutritious food throughout their Olympic training preparation — that shouldn't surprise anybody! Fans will be happy to know that, while the apartments are not outfitted with kitchens, the Olympic Village has everything the athletes need to fuel themselves throughout their stay in Paris. Athletes can eat in the main dining hall for the authentic Olympic experience — a former energy plant that now comfortably seats 3,500 people — or at smaller, grab-and-go locations providing an assortment of foods, like Asian cuisine and Afro-Caribbean foods, if their schedules don't allow for a sit-down meal.
In 2024, the cuisine offered in the Olympic Village will be healthy and sustainable — which means no fries! Chefs Stéphane Chicheri and Charles Guilloy revealed there will be plenty of vegetarian options, like vegetarian shawarma, za’atar-spiced sweet potatoes with hummus, cabbage pickles, beetroot falafel and grilled eggplant with smoked paprika, according to the New York Times.
“French fries are too risky because of fire-hazard concerns over deep-fat fryers,” Guilloy explained to the outlet. “No to foie gras because animal well-being is on everyone’s mind, and no to avocados because they are imported from a great distance and consume a lot of water.”
Alcohol is also not provided on the premises. Olympic Village Director Laurent Michaud previously told Sky News, "[Athletes] can have all the champagne they want also in Paris."
That being said, there will be plenty of bread and cheese on the premises, Guilloy promised.
It's estimated that the Olympic Village will serve 40,000 meals daily during the Games. We can't imagine how the tireless chefs, cooks, and culinary experts will pull this off, but it happens every time the Olympics occurs. It's truly a breathtaking and arguably under-appreciated undertaking!
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What will happen to the Olympic Village when the Summer Games are over?
Thankfully, the 2024 Olympic Village will not meet the same fate as previous projects — it will be transformed into a joint residential-commercial complex shortly after the Games.
According to the French newspaper Le Monde, local officials will work quickly once the Summer Olympics wrap up to repurpose the massive complex into something the local community can take advantage of.
"A new phase of work will begin in the autumn," Le Monde reports. "Room partitions will be dismantled, bathroom blocks removed, paintwork redone and parquet flooring laid. A new neighborhood will unfold, ready for use. It will feature over 2,800 housing units (70% of them privately owned), 80,000 square meters of office space, shops and green public spaces."
Considering how many Olympic villages are demolished or ignored once the Games end — the Olympic Village in Rio is a devastating example of what not to do once the closing ceremonies are complete — we're happy to report that Paris fully intends to give the Olympic Village back to its residents.
What is the purpose of the Olympic Village?
First and foremost, the Olympic Village is the athletes' home away from home. When they're not competing at the highest level, they are free to use the Olympic Village as they would their own residence in their home country. They eat, sleep, socialize, and yes, we'll be honest, the general atmosphere of the Olympic Village is reportedly more college dormitory than retirement home, much to the delight of the thousands of athletes who'll call the Village their home for weeks on end.
Above all else, the Olympic Village provides all participating Olympic athletes with a safe place to live while they compete in Paris. While nobody will confuse the Village with luxury hotel accommodations, it is nevertheless a well-functioning, modern complex with countless amenities.
Originally published Apr 9, 2024.
