The Olympic Village was delivered to Paris 2024, five months before the start of the Olympic Games. Emmanuel Macron inaugurated it with great fanfare. RMC Sport was able to visit some parts of the village accompanied by the world and European judo champion who will participate in her first Olympics, Marie-Eve Gahié. She was won over.
The previous Saturday, Marie-Eve Gahié was in judogi, black belt around her waist, barefoot on the tatami at Bercy, with a warlike face to go for the silver medal in less than 70 kilos at the Paris tournament. This Friday we find her with a construction helmet on her head, a fluorescent vest on her back and size 42 boots on her feet. Around it, 52 hectares have emerged from the ground since the first plans were drawn up eight years ago. The equivalent of 70 football fields or half of the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, Gahié, a Parisian from the 15th arrondissement, asked for a scale to imagine this Olympic village of Paris 2024.
The 27-year-old judoka begins by strolling among the buildings that will accommodate the athletes. A thousand trees were planted for the occasion. For the moment, not a single leaf on the plane trees but Gahié can already imagine walking with her teammates to their accommodation. “We are in the finishing stages,” explains Henri Specht, director of the Olympic and Paralympic village project at Solideo, the organization responsible for delivering the Olympic works. We plant the last trees, we do the last lighting. There are still paving stones and street furniture to be installed until February 29.”
Several constructions catch the eye of Marie-Eve Gahié. The colors too. Blue and red facades, there are ceramics, tiles, no building looks like another. The promoter was inspired by the painting Evidence by American abstract artist Philip Guston. “Is there a swimming pool?” asks Gahié. “No, but there is the Seine just a stone’s throw away.” A promontory was installed above the muddy waters. Deckchair and tan with Paris opposite, an appetizing program before the heat of the Olympic competition. Gahié and his guides climb into a white building. Head to the fifth floor. The judoka loves the light that shines through the stairs. Slippers on her boots, she enters this four-bedroom family accommodation which will accommodate up to eight athletes. Two bathrooms, a balcony with a view of the Seine, Paris and a little corner of La Défense, Gahié is won over: “I feel privileged,” she smiles. “I’m telling myself I’m going to pack my bags to be home, it’s going to be crazy. I like beautiful views, I like wood. The colors are soft, it’s refined. It gives me want to settle in during the Olympics.”
And the self-service is not far away, not a detail for athletes, rather in energy saving mode during competitions. After the Paralympic Games, 6,000 people will take possession of these 2,800 homes. There will be shops, offices, a new school, a new town which sells for 6,900 euros per square meter. Purchases follow one another and the highest apartments have already found buyers: “We first designed these apartments with heritage in mind, post-Olympics,” says Florence Chahid-Nourai, director of major projects at Icade Promotion. We responded to two specifications, that of the athletes and that of the residents afterwards.”
The beds are not yet installed but Gahié was able to test one. Same design as those of Tokyo 2020, made of cardboard. “Even for Teddy?” she asks. Yes. She lies down, turns to the right then to the left and says in a low voice ‘I’m going to smash them tomorrow’ while thinking about her competition day on July 31st. She would see herself in this apartment ideally located between the Seine and the cafeteria, located in the Cité du cinéma. The French will probably be a little further away. The buildings are not yet dressed in the colors of Paris 202 or with the flags of the countries.
Curious, the Paris Saint-Germain Judo licensee multiplies the questions and comments. She seems overwhelmed by this preview: “There wasn’t much negative feedback when we talked. She appreciated the banks of the Seine, the heart of the block, the configuration of the accommodation. Seeing her amazed by the village is great,” enthuses Henri Specht. Gahié will pose his judogi there a few days before the opening ceremony on July 26. Until then, she has put a few photos in her phone and a few memories in her memory to tell her friends from the French judo team. A mystery remains: which teammate will she share her room with in the village? Everything in its time.
Morgan Maury with Alicia Bert
2024-02-29 15:37:56
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