A place of care unlike any other for an unusual cohabitation.
For the past ten days or so, nearly 2,000 doses of vaccine have been administered daily to priority people in the interior of the national velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, where a screening campaign had already taken place last September. .
The runners of the France team on track, totally in their health bubble, for their part continue to train for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo, as if nothing had happened.
Well almost.
It will be three months since the first vaccines appeared in the temple of track cycling, initially with no consequences for athletes.
“As it was then in the rooms under the stands, we were not at all impacted, says Christophe Manin, the DTN (National Technical Director) of the France team.
With the recent opening of the central space, it was necessary to adapt.
As tenants of the place, we are ready to participate in the common effort and things are going quite well.
We must not forget, however, that we are also here to prepare for the biggest sporting event.
»The interior area is more than 80% occupied by the vaccination zone, to the detriment of the athletes grouped together (and therefore without taking distances between them), at the edge of the track behind closed barriers.
A temperature problem
Two specific points are important to the riders and their staff.
When you enter the enclosure, the first impression is the great heat that reigns there.
“It's the right atmosphere for a velodrome, the hot air being less dense,” explains Christophe Manin.
The more the temperature drops, the more difficulty the runners have in their movements.
You should know that the international specifications impose, and whatever the location, a temperature of 27 ° in competition, which is impossible for people who come to be vaccinated.
When it's hot outside like at the start of the week, that suits us very well.
"
The other subject of importance to athletes is of a medical nature.
“Our runners (about twenty) are without masks and in contact with outside people in a closed environment, insists the DTN.
To us, they are like frontline workers in the face of danger.
So this created a little worry that is growing day by day.
You have to put yourself in their shoes: the Games are the goal of a sportsman's life and they need to be reassured to feel at ease.
That is why we asked that they all be vaccinated equally.
This is not favoritism, just a matter of security.
A request, not yet accepted, was therefore made to the doctors.
VIDEO.
Vaccinodrome of Saint-Quentin en Yvelines: "We have no visibility on the doses, we adapt"
On the other side of the fence, we are far from these kinds of considerations.
The parade of future vaccinated people, who patiently await their turn as soon as they enter the velodrome, continues unabated.
When cyclists set off for their laps, cell phones are there to film: “It's wonderful, I'm like a kid, cowardly Christian, 70, an amateur cyclist from Celle-Saint-Cloud.
It makes you want to try.
When I found out that the vaccinations were being done here, I thought to myself that it was a great opportunity to see a velodrome from the inside.
I imagine that with the crowd screaming, it must be even more impressive.
"If the pandemic is only a bad memory by then, Christian has already taken a date for the World Championships which will take place in Saint-Quentin, from October 12 to 16, 2022.