The athletes’ village for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris officially opened and welcomed its first residents on Thursday, French media reported.
The village, located north of Paris, will be home to some 14,500 people, including 9,000 athletes. Eight days before the opening ceremony, team members from Australia and Brazil were the first to arrive.
Augustin Tran Van Chau, deputy head of the village, told French media:
We are ready.
Organisers pride themselves on the fact that the village, they say, does not need air conditioning to keep residents cool and that the temperature inside should be at least 6 degrees Celsius (42 Fahrenheit) lower than outside in the summer.
However, some delegations ordered their own air conditioners anyway. The village contains many innovations designed to make it a model of low-carbon construction. After housing Olympians and Paralympians between July 26 and September 8, the flats will be converted into homes, with at least a third of them earmarked for public housing.
