Surprises there have been, but, in the end, the schedule should be kept. This is the assurance given by Patrick Chaimovitch, the mayor (Europe Ecologie-Les Verts) of Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), about the communal swimming pool, chosen to be the training center for artistic swimming delegations during the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) and which, in this perspective, is undergoing a complete renovation.
“We had a lot of surprises on the construction site,” started in May 2022, explains the elected official, evoking the presence of asbestos and rusty ironwork requiring the fixing of the structures to be resumed. “We have reviewed the schedules, the human resources have been reinforced and it will be delivered on time”, nevertheless advances Mr. Chaimovich. The provision of the structure for the Games is scheduled for June 2024.
This swimming pool is part of the equipment that will constitute the “material heritage” of the Games, highlighted by the organizers of the event. The renovation operation will cost 40.3 million euros, including 34.5 million for the city and 2.3 million for Solideo, the public company in charge of the Olympic works, the rest to be financed by the Métropole du Grand Paris and by the region (which has still not confirmed its contribution of 800,000 euros)
After the Games, the city of Colombes aims to make this swimming pool a regional training center for artistic swimming. “There are discussions in this direction with the federation”says Chaimovich.
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Around 80 million euros of investments
The historic Yves du Manoir stadium, currently being renovated – the same one where the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games took place in 1924 – will also benefit from this “Olympic heritage”: with a capacity of 12,000 spectators, it will host the Olympic field hockey competitions and then house the headquarters of the field hockey federation, becoming a national training center for this discipline.
Thanks to this renovation of the stadium, financed by Solideo, the department and the region (94.2 million euros in total), the city also hopes to be able to re-attract the Racing rugby team, part of Doves for the Arena La Défense, in the neighboring town of Nanterre, since the end of 2017. “There are discussions, not finalized. Racing, which we met, is thinking. We are quite confident.”advances the mayor.
For Colombes, the Olympics are also an opportunity to open up to the international scene. The municipality has had two Games preparation centers listed: a boxing gym and the courts of its tennis club. All that remains now is to attract international delegations to settle there before the Games.
“We had visits from the Cuban ambassador, as well as a Thai delegation, for boxing. We are awaiting a response from Thailand”explains Mr. Chaimovitch, who affirms that“at the end of the summer we will have found the solution”.
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Be that as it may, the elected official believes that the Games will constitute “an accelerator” for the city’s investment policy in terms of sports facilities. “Without the Games, we would have renovated the swimming pool, for example, but not on the same schedule”he underlines, while recalling that on the term of office, these are “about 80 million euros of investment” which are planned for the renovation and construction of sports infrastructure, “i.e. one third of our investment capacity”.
4,750 free tickets and fan zones
“It shouldn’t be their Games, it should be our Games”. This is how Patrick Chaimovitch, the mayor of Colombes, summarizes the need for the Olympic and Paralympic Games not to be, for Colombians and Colombians, a distant object, reserved only for some. In this perspective, the city will buy and distribute 4,750 tickets for the Olympic Games free of charge. “We will rely on associations, clubs and social centers to distribute them, ensuring that there is no cronyism”explains the elected official, who adds that several fan zones will be installed in the city during the summer of 2024. By then, various activities related to the Games will be put in place.
Our selection of articles on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Find all our content on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games:
Ongoing judicial investigations
After the searches which targeted two senior officials of Paris 2024, the Minister of Sports says she is “serene”
Projects and budget
IOC shows ‘great level of confidence’ in preparation for Olympics
Olympic Games: the Court of Auditors considers that the Paris 2024 budget remains marked by “strong uncertainties”
The Olympic Torch Relay
Against a backdrop of social tensions, the Parisian route of the torch relay unveiled
The complex arbitrations around the route of the torch relay in the Meuse
Number of places, prices, disciplines… All you need to know about the third phase of ticket sales which opens on Wednesday
With 6.8 million tickets sold, Tony Estanguet defends “Games open to the greatest number”
Environmental issues
The difficult bet of “green” Olympic Games
The question of the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes
“Our mobilization is total so that Russians and Belarusians do not fall through the cracks” of anti-doping
More than three-quarters of Russian medalists at the Tokyo Games fall outside the IOC’s neutrality model
Cybersecurity: “There is a real mobilization, and we are on schedule”
The huge transport challenge
The societal issues highlighted by the Games
Accessibility for people with disabilities is slow to be implemented
Gender parity at the Games cannot make us forget the slow feminization of sports practice
A parliamentary report highlights the uncertainties about the tourism benefits of the Games
Seine-Saint-Denis and the Games
Accommodation in the 2024 Olympics athletes’ village put up for sale in Saint-Denis
In Bobigny, nearby construction sites, but distant jobs for young people in integration
On Airbnb, the Olympic Games make Parisian owners fantasize
The Paris 2024 Olympics accelerate the transformation of North-East Paris
The Games are not just Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis
The 2024 Olympics in Paris, a distant horizon in working-class neighborhoods
Thanks to the Paris 2024 Olympics, Grigny wants to create “a local Olympic ecosystem”
Olympic Games 2024: the Meuse wants to take advantage of the Games to develop its attractiveness through sport
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