In Paris

With adrenalin pumping high as the blue riband Olympic Games officially kick off Thursday, local organisers have dished out 200,000 condoms to ensure athletes play safe at the Olympic Village.

Michaud Laurent, the Director of the imposing Olympic Village, confirmed that they were working with French health authorities to ensure “safe” Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In an interview at the Olympic Village at the St Denis district of Paris, on Tuesday evening, Laurent argued that the Olympic rings branding of the contraceptives could also have played a role in triggering athlete interest.

“Yes, indeed, we have given out the condoms because for us, the health and safety of the athletes is the most important thing. We are working with the local authorities in the State to have these condoms available in the Village for the athletes to use, if they want,” Laurent confirmed.

“We have given out 200,000 condoms for use by the athletes for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and this is the figure we have worked through with the State Department (of health).

“They (condoms) are still available… they have an Olympic logo branding and perhaps that’s why the uptake has been good also,” he added.

No Olympic Village life for LeBron

By Tuesday evening, 8,000 athletes and officials had checked into the Olympic Village, representing an occupancy rate of over 50 percent, but Laurent couldn’t immediately confirm how many of the contraceptives had been consumed or if they would need to revise their supply numbers upwards.

But despite the grandeur of the Olympic Village, an address any athlete would love to reside at, Laurent confirmed that the star-studded US national basketball team, led by 39-year-old, four-time gold medallist LeBron James, won’t be staying at the Village but have arranged private accommodation at a five-star hotel as they always do at such major games.

“The Village is responding to athletes’ needs because we know they all have different needs…we have responded quickly to address the logistical challenges we’ve had, including building 14,250 beds,” Laurent explained, confirming that the US NBA stars won’t be Villagers.

“Of course, other high profile athletes are here in the Village – the Spanish delegation arrived yesterday and the French swimming team is arriving today - but we have some information that the US basketball team will first stay in Lille because they are playing their preliminary stage matches in Lille, and then if they qualify to come to Paris then they will not stay in the Olympic Village because traditionally they stay outside in some hotels,” he explained.

But indeed, other top NBA basketball stars from other nations will stay at the Olympic Village, including “The Alien”, France’s seven-foot-four San Antonio Spurs power forward Victor Wembenyama.

“For sure Wembenyama will stay here!,” Laurent assured. 

“For him, it’s his first Olympic Games and Wembenyama and his team will be very happy to stay here.”

Among the Spanish delegation are tennis mega stars Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.

Claycourt specialist Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam winner, hopes to overcome injury and battle on the Roland Garros clay where he has won the French Open title 14 times.

Nadal, 38, is listed to play in the doubles with 21-year-old Alcaraz – 17 year his junior - the man of the moment who already has four Grand Slams tucked under his young belt, including, this year alone, the French Open and Wimbledon.

Given its large space, bicycles and Toyota-powered electronic carts are used to move the athletes around the 134-acre Olympic Village that can host up to 10,500 athletes from the 206 national Olympic committees.

China, USA, hosts France, Italy and Australia are some of the nations with the largest delegations with the Chinese having taken up a 10-storey building across on the other side of the Seine River.

The Team Kenya camp building is shared with that of the Republic of Ireland.

“They use bicycles It’s a quite compact site, meaning that from their residence to the dining hall via the transport mode is really quick,” Laurent explained.

In terms of legacy, Laurent explained that the Olympic and Paralympic Village will be closed on September 10 to allow for customization of the apartments for sale by next year.

“We are closing the Village on September 10, and then we have six weeks to remove all the furniture from the Village because on November 1, we shall give back the keys to the promoters so that they can transform all the apartments for future inhabitants,” he shared.

“Then they will have to remove the temporary walls in the apartments, which have no kitchen at the moment (and that has to be fixed),” Laurent told Nation.Africa.

“They will also remove the extra bathrooms that were added in some apartments because we had to respond to the ratio of one bathroom for four athletes – so we had to add some.

“By the middle of 2025, all these apartments will be ready for the future inhabitants, and I know that some promoters have already started to sell the apartments… the apartments have different prices.”

The Olympic Village also has first-class medical facilities housed at an already exciting school of kinesiology and osteopathy.

“We have transformed it into a medical centre. The owner of the facility has kindly let us lease his building so that we can have our medical centre in this school,” Laurent noted.