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Rediff.com  » Sports » PIX: Paris 2024 Olympic Games Village inaugurated

PIX: Paris 2024 Olympic Games Village inaugurated

Last updated on: February 29, 2024 20:57 IST
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A view of buildings at the Paris 2024 Olympic village on its inauguration day in Saint-Denis, northern Paris, France, on February 29, 2024. The village, constructed on a 52-hectare site is located on a cluster of former industrial wastelands with the centrepiece being the Cite du Cinema.

IMAGE: A view of buildings at the Paris 2024 Olympic village on its inauguration day in Saint-Denis, northern Paris, France, on February 29, 2024. The village, constructed on a 52-hectare site is located on a cluster of former industrial wastelands with the centrepiece being the Cite du Cinema. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters

The keys to the Paris 2024 athletes' village were officially handed to the Olympics organisers as President Emmanuel Macron visited the site on Thursday.

The 52-hectare village, just north of Paris, will host some 14,500 athletes and their staff before welcoming 9,000 for the Paralympics.

 

After the Games, the village will be transformed into an eco-friendly neighbourhood benefiting 6,000 residents and featuring two schools, a hotel, a public park, shops and offices plus planted areas for pedestrians and non-motorised vehicles.

"It will become, after the Games, a real neighbourhood for the inhabitants of (the) Seine Saint Denis (area)," Macron said.

"It is a masterpiece of what the French construction industry can do," said Nicolas Ferrand, the general director of SOLIDEO, the company in charge of delivering the Olympics infrastructure.

L'Ile-Saint-Denis' mayor Mohamed Gnabaly speaks with France's President Emmanuel Macron, next to Seine-Saint-Denis' Council member Stephane Troussel and Saint-Denis' mayor Mathieu Hanotin during the inauguration of the Paris 2024 Olympic village in Saint-Denis, northern Paris, France, on February 29, 2024. 

IMAGE: L'Ile-Saint-Denis' mayor Mohamed Gnabaly speaks with France's President Emmanuel Macron, next to Seine-Saint-Denis' Council member Stephane Troussel and Saint-Denis' mayor Mathieu Hanotin during the inauguration of the Paris 2024 Olympic village in Saint-Denis, northern Paris, France, on February 29, 2024. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters

Ferrand handed a symbolic key of the village to Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet, officially concluding a seven-year journey since Paris was awarded the Games.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and locally elected representatives, as well as region president Valerie Pecresse and sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, attended the inauguration.

"We are, I am, proud of the work you've done, within budget and on time," Macron told workers on site.

"Our athletes will be able to experience the Games in the best conditions and you contributed to changing the lives of the inhabitants of the area.

After the Games, the village will be transformed into an eco-friendly neighbourhood benefiting 6,000 residents and featuring two schools, a hotel, a public park, shops and offices plus planted areas for pedestrians and non-motorised vehicles.  

IMAGE: After the Games, the village will be transformed into an eco-friendly neighbourhood benefiting 6,000 residents and featuring two schools, a hotel, a public park, shops and offices plus planted areas for pedestrians and non-motorised vehicles. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters

"You are part of an adventure that will mark our century."

Macron hailed France as a "nation of builders".

"What has been done on time and within budget as we finalise the reconstruction of Notre Dame is nothing short remarkable," he said.

Notre-Dame is set to reopen for religious services and to the public on Dec. 8 this year, the cathedral having been renovated after being ravaged by fire in 2019. 

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Source: REUTERS
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