Nearly a hundred athletes from the French team will sleep almost every day at the INSEP (National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance) for the duration of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (July 26-August 11). “We are coming to complement the French teams who are in the village (Olympic, located in Saint-Denis north of Paris),” explained Fabien Canu, the general director of the INSEP, on Thursday. The institute is located in the Bois de Vincennes east of Paris.
On some days of the Olympics, nearly 250 people, including athletes and staff, must stay at the Insep, transformed for the occasion into an Olympic secondary residence. “There are the French teams who will come to train here, because we are not that far from the village, they have their habits,” Canu continued. “There are also training partners or additional coaches who cannot join the village because places are limited, who will sleep here.”
Badminton, basketball and canoeing at Insep
This will be the case for the badminton players and the men’s basketball team, who “don’t want to go to the village,” said Fabien Canu. Basketball in the second week, since the first will be in Lille.” Other athletes, such as the kayakers who will be staying near Vaires-sur-Marne, about forty kilometers east of Paris, have preferred the proximity of the site of their competition.
The French delegation should ultimately number nearly 560 members, and nearly a quarter of them will not be staying in the Olympic village, where the Blues have nearly 500 beds, including athletes and staff. “We are also taking advantage of the fact that it is at home to make all our sports facilities available to the French teams,” added the director general of INSEP, assuring that “all the services have been increased” to be able to accommodate everyone, at a price of 90 euros per person per night with full board.
Calm and serenity
“This goes from catering where, indeed, we will eat much better than usual with timetables, snacks. It is a medical permanence which will be open practically 24 hours a day. Psychological support if necessary. We will really take great care of you,” promised Fabien Canu.
When asked what athletes can find at INSEP during the Olympic Games, Canu replied: “Peace, calm, because these are the Games in France, it’s special. We can’t imagine it, but there is pressure there, which is normal. So, we have to control it, manage it. Here, it’s still a haven of peace. It’s the Bois de Vincennes, the greenery.”
2024-07-04 16:52:14
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