Some of you may know that the Summer Olympic Games will be held in Paris in 2024. This is exciting news for the city; although it has hosted the Olympic Games (les Jeux olympiques) two other times, the last time was nearly 100 years ago in 1924 and the 2024 Games will also celebrate this centennial.

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According to Le Monde, the budget for the Paris Olympic Games is initially set at 6 billion euros (six milliards d’euros). However, these early budgets are typically always surpassed in planning to host the Olympic Games. According to this article in Le Monde, “les budgets initiaux [des JO] sous-estiment toujours le coût total de l’événement.” In addition to construction and programming costs, a large portion of the budget will go toward security expenses (les dépenses de sécurité).

Planning has already begun on the enormous future Olympic Village just north of Paris, in an area called les Pleyel-Bords de Seine. According to the Olympic committee, 95% of the structures needed for the Games are already in place. These structures include le Stade de France, where Paris and national soccer games are played, le Vélodrome national, and le Palais omnisports de Bercy. The Olympic Village and a new aquatic center (un centre aquatique) still needs to be built. According to Business Immo, “la construction du village olympique (9 880 chambres), ainsi que celle du village des médias, doivent représenter 300 000 m² de plancher” (“the construction of the Olympic Village (9,880 rooms), as well as the media village, will fill a footprint of about 300,000 m²). As for housing for the athletes during their stay in Paris, the plan will be to use all biodegradable materials to create temporary Olympic housing that can then be changed into affordable housing for the residents of Paris. According to Business Immo, “En effet, un grand nombre d’infrastructures seront temporaires, démontables et les matériaux réutilisables ultérieurement (100 % de matériaux de construction seront biosourcés). Ainsi, les 3 100 logements neufs innovants hébergeront, dans un premier temps, les athlètes du village ; puis, après les jeux, ils se transformeront en logements abordables” (Actually, a large amount of the infrastructure will be temporary, able to be deconstructed, and with reusable materials (100% of construction material will be biosourced. Also, the 3,100 new and innovative rooms will house the Village’s athletes; then, after the Games, they will be transformed into affordable lodging”).

So, while it seems as if a lot of the infrastructure for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games is already in place, there’s still a lot of work to do!