The deadline is getting closer: five months before the Paris Olympic Games (July 26-August 11), Emmanuel Macron inaugurates on Thursday the Olympic village in Saint-Denis, the gigantic epicenter of the Olympic Games built in seven years, capable of accommodating nearly 14,500 athletes with their staff and whose keys will be given to the organizers.
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This important step, with which Emmanuel Macron will be associated, will make the arrival of this global event a little more concrete.
The President of the Republic, whose last visit to the site dates back to October 2021, at a time when the village was only a huge construction site emerging from the ground, will symbolically cut the ribbon on Thursday.
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Since his last visit, he will be able to see the work accomplished, the day after a dinner at the Elysée where around ten athletes such as judoka Romane Dicko or fencer Romain Cannone were invited.
“Tomorrow (Thursday), I will inaugurate the Olympic and Paralympic village which, beyond its ambition to provide an optimal welcome to the athletes, will become, in the aftermath of the Games, a real piece of the city for the inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis
, ”
he tweeted Wednesday evening on his X account.
“A village for athletes”
Built in seven years, the village brings together some 82 buildings, 3,000 apartments and 7,200 rooms on a site which extends over 52 hectares between Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis Island and Saint-Ouen, north of Paris.
“It is quite strong what Solideo (the Olympic works delivery company, Editor's note) and the builders managed to do, it must be emphasized
,” notes an executive from a company having worked on this immense project.
“The community was skeptical about the ability to set up a village of this size in such a short time
,” he adds.
Apart from a delay estimated at
“a few weeks”
by the president of Solideo, Nicolas Ferrand, for the buildings located on Saint-Denis Island, the planned delivery schedule was met.
But the work is not finished: to be able to welcome the 206 Olympic delegations, the organizers will have their work cut out for them between now and the opening of the Games.
The apartments are in fact delivered bare, and it is now necessary to equip them, install the furniture (beds, bedside tables, etc.), and set up the service centers for the athletes.
“This represents more than 345,000 parts in total which will be transported. Duvets, bedside tables, beds – there will be 14,250 –, 8,200 fans and 5,535 sofas
,” explains Laurent Michaud, director of the Olympic and Paralympic villages at the Paris 2024 organizing committee.
“There will be two athletes per 12 m2 room, and a bathroom for four people. Everyone will be in the same boat.”
The equipment of these apartments, as well as the numerous services that the athletes and their staff will enjoy during their stay, will be provided by the sponsors.
“It’s a village that we worked with athletes for athletes (...) so that each athlete can find all the needs they will need
,” summarizes Laurent Michaud.
Ephemeral city
During the Olympics, the village will function as a classic but ephemeral city.
For example, athletes will be able to have their laundry washed in temporary laundromats with nearly 600 washing machines and dryers.
Maintenance of apartments in more than 70 residences will be ensured by twelve concierge services scattered throughout the village.
Only the kitchens will be absent from the apartments.
Athletes will have 24-hour access to the imposing nave of the Cité du cinéma transformed into a giant restaurant with a variation on six culinary themes (Italy, Asia, France, etc.) for nearly 3,200 seats and 40,000 meals. served per day.
A second restaurant will be installed on Saint-Denis Island, and food trucks
“will be distributed throughout the village.
A grocery store, a police station, a hair salon, a fitness room, a bar (without alcohol), and a multi-faith center... Athletes should not want for anything. Even a post office will be installed temporarily in this city which will not have a mayor.
A 3,000 m2 polyclinic, in place of the Dahnier osteopathy school, will also be available to athletes 24 hours a day for care, a scanner or an MRI.
Traffic will be by bicycles or electric shuttles "
which will run 24 hours a day", adds Laurent Michaud.
Once the Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8) are over, the apartments will be reconfigured to accommodate residents and businesses in this new district to the north of Paris.