Love Island Villa? : An Inside Look into the Olympic Village
Cardboard beds, summer camp sleepover vibes, Hinge matches, and more. The Olympics have kicked off and the athletes are staying in what can sometimes feel more like the Love Island villa, but the Olympic Village is the perfect Sportsish spot with so much to dive into.
The Facts
The Olympic Village is housing 14,250 athletes during the Olympic Games, and 8,000 during the Paralympic Games located in three parts of the city of Paris: Saint-Denis, Saint Ouen, and L'Île-Saint-Denis. Interestingly, the Olympic Village is a tradition that has been part of every Olympic Games for exactly a century since it originated at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Paris Olympic Website
After this year, the Village will become a neighborhood with over 2000 new homes, a student residence, a hotel, sectors of parks and gardens, offices, shops, and more. The Village was also built to environmentally friendly standards, within the carbon-emissions budget set out in Paris’s Climate Plan goals for 2050. However, the reconstruction has been controversial because it has forced out many existing residents, mainly immigrants, into temporary homes or worse living conditions in what has been referred to as “social cleansing”.
But what is life like within the Village itself? Thanks to social media and the lack of COVID-19 restrictions that were in place during Tokyo 2020, Olympians have been sharing an inside look into what the Village is like.
Cardboard beds debuted in Tokyo and have made a return once again. They are sustainable, made out of recycled materials, and can be adjusted to fit the height of each athlete.
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British diver Tom Daley even jumped up and down on his bed to prove just how sturdy they are. The bedrooms and the whole vibe of the Village make it seem like it’s just a huge, super fun summer camp. This video of Team USA heptathlete, Anna Hall, is thinking about how to decorate her room and it's giving freshman moving into her college dorm vibes. The girls excitedly running around the villa have the same energy as teenagers at a sleepover.
There is a long-standing rumor that the Olympic Village is the place for hookups and romance. It’s basically like the Love Island villa but for Olympians! Team USA rugby sevens player, Ilona Maher, has been providing us with plenty of TikTok content, especially around this topic. We’ll have to wait and see if any romances blossom out of this, but fingers crossed.
It also seems that there is a shortage of eggs in the Village! The catering staff have been forced to ration eggs and other foods which are in high demand, such as grilled meats. However, they have assured that “volumes will increase…to satisfy the needs of the athletes” who are the best in the world.
But, they haven’t run out of sweet treats and gift bags, which are clearly a fan favorite. Australian swimmer Tilly Kearns showed her love for the free ice cream offered at the Village.
Tina Rahimi, an Australian boxer, showed off her favorite present which was a Samsung flip phone, among other gifts.
Some athletes are, as expected, more well-known than others, and Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz might be the most popular of them all! He’s been approached for photos by numerous other athletes, but based on the wide smile on his face, it looks like he doesn’t mind it at all.
As the Olympics commence, it may sometimes seem like the athletes are superhuman because of their incredible achievements and athletic prowess. It’s easy to forget that at the end of the day, they are still regular human beings who are all currently living together in the Village and hoping to live out their dreams over the next two weeks.
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