The Olympic Games are beamed to billions of people around the world, giving viewers a real-time, close-up look at every pole vault, layup, breaststroke and backflip. But there is a crucial part of the Olympics experience that remains largely unknown to spectators, sealed off from the camera crews and off-limits to cheering fans — the Olympic Village. In recent weeks, NBC News spoke with decorated Olympians about life inside the sprawling residential complexes where thousands of athletes sleep, eat, train and socialize.
They likened the villages to summer camps, college dorms, crowded hotels and — in the words of gold medalist swimmer Mark Spitz — a “gigantic cruise ship.” No two villages are exactly alike, but in the mind of gold medalist gymnast Shannon Miller, there is a clear-cut constant. “The one thing that hasn’t changed is that the Olympic Village is truly an athlete’s home away from home,” she said.
The bedrooms The athletes’ villages in Paris span parts of three towns, according to the organizing committee — Saint-Denis, Saint Ouen and L’Île-Saint-Denis — and they will house 14,250 athletes during the Olympic Games and some 8,000 athletes during the Paralympic Games. But the temporary homes where world class athletes dwell typically aren’t all that luxurious, as most Olympians are quick to point out. “I think people would be surprised at how minimal and minimalist the Olympics rooms are,” said gold medalist figure skater Brian Boitan.