Just over two and a half years from the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, Nanterre enters the competition. The city, in association with the University of Paris Nanterre, obtained the Terre de Jeux 2024 label on January 3, issued by the Organizing Committee (Cojo). As a result, the town and the university are now listed as Games Preparation Centers (CPJ), and the campus will serve as a training center for the judo and weightlifting events. The city was chosen for breakdance, handball and basketball.
The training centers are now included in the CPJ catalog put online by the Cojo, and can now receive Olympic delegations wishing to do scouting. “We are delighted, welcomes José Esteban, project manager for ‘high-level sportsmen and Paris 2024 issues’ at the University of Nanterre. It enhances our existing heritage and what we have to offer our students. »
The university wants to involve its students
The campus training center, with an area of nearly 10,000 m², is made up of – among other things – a dojo, a weight training and weightlifting room, a multi-sports gymnasium and a Olympic swimming pool.
“Our advantage is that our facilities are perfectly functional, this was part of the specifications of the Cojo, explains José Esteban. We are also less than 20 minutes from the Olympic Village by the A86 motorway, I am convinced that the campus will be very attractive.”
It now remains to define the strategy for attracting athletes. The university also wants to involve its students in welcoming and supporting athletes. Above all, “there is a process of lobbying to be coordinated with the city,” says José Esteban, who hopes, for example, to attract the Mongolian delegation, which has already come to Nanterre to prepare for the Paris judo tournament. The city’s twinning network can also be used to convince foreign representatives.
With Suresnes, Levallois-Perret, Ville-d’Avray, Meudon and Bagneux, selected in the second selection phase, Nanterre thus joins the 13 towns of Hauts-de-Seine initially selected as preparation centres. At this stage, nineteen municipalities in the department will therefore be able to serve as a rear base for Olympic and Paralympic athletes. A third selection phase is scheduled for the summer of 2022.
