Agencies
Paris
The Olympic Village for the Paris Games opened on Thursday as the first of an expected 14,000 athletes and team officials moved in.
The village in the Seine-Saint-Denis department just outside Paris measures 52 hectares and consists of 82 buildings for the Olympians at the July 26-August 11 Games.
It also accommodates several thousands of staff.
Post-Olympics the site is to become a new residential and office area with shops.
Saint-Denis is one of the poorest areas in the Paris region and has a high crime rate.
It received a dress-up for the Olympics, which apart from the village also includes a new swim centre.
France’s national arena, the Stade de France, is also located there and will stage the athletics competition and closing ceremony of the Games.
Eight days before the opening ceremony, the first team members to arrive were from Australia and Brazil.
“We are ready,” the deputy head of the village, Augustin Tran Van Chau, told French media.
Organisers are proud of offering a village that they say does not require air-conditioning to keep residents cool, with temperatures inside set to be at least 6 degrees Celsius (42 Fahrenheit) lower than outside in summer.
Some delegations have ordered their own air-conditioning units anyway.
The village contains a host of innovations intended to make it a model of low-carbon construction. After they have been used by Olympians and Paralympians between July 26 and September 8, the apartments will be converted into homes, with at least a third destined for public housing.
