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NewsTranscript
00:00 We can now go across to France 24's Clovis Casale, standing by.
00:03 Clovis, good morning. Where is this village located and what's it like?
00:06 Well, we're here just on the outskirts of Paris, and let me show you,
00:12 we're here in sunny, brand new buildings.
00:14 This is the Olympic Village for Paris 2024.
00:19 Of course, here you will have 14,500 athletes
00:24 coming over the Olympics and Paralympic Games
00:28 here for a very special moment in their career.
00:31 So the people who built this site are proud to say that it's an eco-friendly site,
00:37 reducing as much as possible carbon emissions.
00:41 It did create a bit of controversy because some delegations said,
00:44 where's the air conditioning?
00:46 Well, there's no air conditioning in these buildings, but those who designed
00:50 these infrastructures say everything's done using special materials
00:55 in order to keep the flats as cool as possible.
00:58 And the delegations who want to have smaller conditioning units
01:03 might be able to bring their own if they don't want to rely just on the fans.
01:08 And this site is the key part, of course, of the Olympic Games.
01:16 And the people who built it are proud to say that they managed to stick
01:21 to the schedule.
01:22 They managed to not go over budget, and that was clearly a challenge
01:26 because you had Covid, you had the war in Ukraine, you had prices soaring,
01:31 but they managed to stick to the budget.
01:34 President Emmanuel Macron is expected here in a few minutes.
01:37 He will be here with some famous athletes,
01:41 as well as the mayor of Paris, and in a symbolic move,
01:44 he will be getting the keys to this Olympic Village
01:49 here in Saint-Denis on the outskirts of Paris.
01:52 You said no air conditioning and my jaw dropped.
01:55 Clovis, there have been some rumblings here in France that these games
01:58 are not for the people.
02:00 When you look at the ticket prices, et cetera.
02:03 Very briefly, what have officials done to assuage those concerns?
02:06 Well, this is in the outskirts of Saint-Denis, this Olympic Village,
02:13 and it's one of the most deprived areas in France.
02:17 And the whole idea of heritage is a key pillar for the organizers for Paris 2024.
02:24 So take this village.
02:26 Well, it's going to be turned into social housing and housing for locals.
02:30 And the idea is for the Olympic Games to remain in the lives of the French people.
02:34 So it's not just money thrown out.
02:36 It's also a way to build and bring new infrastructures for the French people.