07/26/2024

What It’s Like Inside the Olympic Village

Paris has rolled out the red carpet for the athletes

The Olympic Village building assigned to Spain sits adjacent to Italy’s apartments, along Rue Volta in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. Algerian flags are draped outside the windows of the bottom floors of Spain’s space: the two Olympic delegations, which include athletes, coaches, and some medical and other staff, are sharing digs. Hungary is housed right next door: "Success," reads a banner that hangs down the nine-story structure, "is in us."

On Tuesday, inside the 53-hectare Olympic Village, which stretches along a trio of municipalities—Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis and L'Ile-Saint-Denis—Paraguayan judoka Gabriela Narvarez gets her nails painted in the red-white-blue triband style of her country's flag. Two Brazilian coaches play pop-a-shot in a game room. Eight Irish women's rugby players return from a baguette-making session. They are enjoying their wares.

Katie Ledecky, the seven-time Olympic gold-medalist swimming superstar who will be a centerpiece of NBC’s first-week coverage the Games and whose face has been plastered all over the network’s promotions for their $8 billion investment into the Olympics, files out of the dining hall along with dozens of Olympians from around the world, totally unbothered. No bags are allowed in the Olympic Village dining hall—what, are the athletes going to steal pastries?—so Ledecky has to retrieve her stuff at the drop-off point, just like anyone else, and stand in line with far less famous athletes from Israel and San Marino. 

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.